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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35519-8.txt b/35519-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ebbac2a --- /dev/null +++ b/35519-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9317 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Joscelyn Cheshire, by Sara Beaumont Kennedy + +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: Joscelyn Cheshire + A Story of Revolutionary Days in the Carolinas + +Author: Sara Beaumont Kennedy + +Release Date: March 8, 2011 [EBook #35519] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOSCELYN CHESHIRE *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + JOSCELYN CHESHIRE + + A STORY OF REVOLUTIONARY DAYS + IN THE CAROLINAS + + BY + SARA BEAUMONT KENNEDY + + NEW YORK + DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. + 1901 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1901, + BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. + + + + +[Illustration: "SHE SWEPT HIM A COURTESY FULL OF OPEN DEFIANCE AND +RIDICULE."] + + + + + To my Husband + WALKER KENNEDY + THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. Cupid and Mars 1 + II. The March of the Continentals 10 + III. Onward to Valley Forge 20 + IV. The Company on the Veranda 25 + V. Winding the Skein 35 + VI. The Fête at Philadelphia 43 + VII. A Dare-devil Deed 56 + VIII. A Maid's Dream and the Devil's Wooing 65 + IX. On Monmouth Plain 73 + X. In Clinton's Tents 81 + XI. From Camp to Prison 93 + XII. A Message out of the North 104 + XIII. Dreams 120 + XIV. News of Love and War 128 + XV. An Awakening and a Mutiny 141 + XVI. Into the Jaws of Death 151 + XVII. Out of the Shadow and into the Sun 163 + XVIII. "Kiss me quick, and let me go" 181 + XIX. The Wearing of a Red Rose 192 + XX. Joscelyn's Peril 204 + XXI. Trapped 217 + XXII. "Search my Lady's Wardrobe" 227 + XXIII. In Tarleton's Toils 242 + XXIV. Thwarted 263 + XXV. Good-by, Sweetheart 278 + XXVI. By the Beleaguered City 293 + XXVII. Homecomings 305 + XXVIII. An Unanswered Question 320 + XXIX. The End of the Thread 331 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + FACING PAGE + + Frontispiece. "She swept him a courtesy + full of open defiance and ridicule." + + "Thus they passed, with small parley, the + picket-posts." 48 + + "Richard was dragged along with the British + until their position was regained." 81 + + "... The Prisoners lined up and answered + to their names." 149 + + "For a long minute he stood there, trembling, + horror-stricken." 164 + + "'My God, Joscelyn, you will not give me + up like that!'" 226 + + "'I have seen no human being save our party + of three.'" 262 + + "'My Heart's prisoner for time and eternity.'" 331 + + + + +JOSCELYN CHESHIRE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +CUPID AND MARS. + + "Thy head is as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat." + --SHAKESPEARE. + + +He threw the door wide open and, with one foot advanced and his weight +on the other hip, stood at pose with uplifted arm and sword; as gallant +a figure as ever melted a maiden's heart or stormed a foeman's citadel. +There was great suggestion of power in the straight limbs, a marvellous +promise of strength in the upward sweep of the arm, which, for a moment, +held the inmates of the room in silence of admiration. Then an avalanche +of exclamations broke loose. + +"Richard, Richard!" + +"Master Clevering!" + +"A health to the young Continental!" + +"Oh, the new uniform, how bravely it doth become him!" + +"The buff and blue forever!" + +"What an air the coat gives him." + +"And the breeches have never a wrinkle in them. I have ever said, my +son, that you were not over fair of feature, but that the Lord made it +up to you in the shape o' your legs." The last speaker was his mother, +who, passing behind him, ran her fingers caressingly along the seams of +his military outfit. + +The young man lowered his sword and answered with a boyish laugh: "And +truly did the Lord owe me a debt in that He gave me not your beauty, +mother." + +"He balanced His account," was the complacent answer, "for you are a fit +figure to please even a king." + +"Nay, I care not to please the king--but the assembled queens!" He +doffed his hat, and bowed with courtly grace to the group of young women +in the centre of the room. + +Full of laughter and chaffing they crowded about him--his sister Betty, +her friend Patience Ruffin, Mistress Dorothy Graham, who had come in to +learn a new knitting stitch of Betty, and pretty Janet Cameron, who had +followed Dorothy to hear the gossip which must necessarily flow freely +where so many women were assembled. Immediately they surrounded the +young soldier, and there was much laughter and talking as they relieved +him of his sword and gun. + +"Only a private in the ranks, and yet here am I attended like a +commander-in-chief," he said, laughing. "Methinks no hero of olden +romance had ever such charming squirage. Are you going to give me your +gloves and fasten your colours on my helmet, that I may go forth to +battle as did the knights of yore?" + +"Yes; kill me a Redcoat for this," and Janet tossed him her glove, while +Dorothy tied a strand of the bright wool from her knitting ball upon his +sleeve. "An you win not a battle for each of us, you are no knight of +ours." + +But the fifth girl of the group, after one glance at him upon his +entrance, had turned abruptly to the window and stood gazing into the +street, tapping the air to "King George, Our Royal Ruler" upon the +panes. No part of her face was visible, but her attitude was spirited, +and the poise of her head bespoke defiance. Richard Clevering's eyes +travelled every few minutes to that straight, lithe figure, and anon he +called out banteringly:-- + +"Hey, you, there at the window, are King George and his army passing by +that you have no eyes for other folk?" + +"I would that they were," was the short answer, and the fingers went on +with their strumming. + +"Come, Joscelyn, leave off sulking and see how brave Richard's uniform +doth make him," said Betty, coaxingly, eager that her brother's unspoken +wish should be gratified. + +"And truly doth he need somewhat to make him brave, seeing he is in arms +against his king," Joscelyn retorted, but turned not her head. + +"In arms against the king? Aye, truly am I; and yours be not the only +Royalist back I shall see 'twixt this and the end of the campaign, +Mistress Joscelyn Cheshire." + +"Then, forsooth, will they be in luck--not having you to look at." + +But the others had caught his meaning, and her retort was half lost in +the shout of laughter that greeted him. + +"Aye, I warrant me when the fighting comes you will see the backs of so +many Redcoats that you can e'en cut their pattern in the dark," declared +Dorothy. + +"Then will his head be twisted forever awry with looking so much over +his shoulder behind him." + +"My Lady Royalist's ears are in the room though her eyes be elsewhere," +laughed Janet. + +"And neither is her tongue paralyzed. Turn about, Joscelyn, and let us +see you have also other power of motion." + +"Not quite so much as some folk who turn like a weather-cock in every +gust of a partisan wind." + +Thus the sparring went on until the visitors took their departure, +followed to the gate by Mistress Clevering and her daughter for that one +last word which women so love. Richard bowed them out and closed the +door upon their backs; then, marching straight to the window, he placed +himself by Joscelyn, who immediately turned her face in the opposite +direction. He spoke to her, but only a shrug of the shoulders answered +him. + +"You _shall_ look at me," he cried, with sudden determination; and, +seizing her by the shoulders, he twisted her about until she faced him; +but even then he did not accomplish his purpose, for she covered her +face with her hands, declaring vehemently she would rather see him in +his shroud than in the uniform of a traitor. + +"Traitor, forsooth! You know not whereof you speak. In what button or +seam see you aught that is traitorous?" He dragged her hands from her +face, and held them in his strong grip; but still he was foiled, for her +eyes were tightly closed. "An you open not your eyes immediately, I will +kiss them soundly upon either lid." + +Which threat had the desired effect, for instantly the lashes parted and +a pair of sea-blue eyes looked angrily into his. + +"So--I have brought you to terms. Well, and what think you of my +uniform?" + +"Methinks," and her voice was not pleasant to hear, "that 'tis most +fitting apparel for one who refuses allegiance to his king and--uses his +greater strength against a woman." + +He flung her hands away with what, for him, was near to roughness. "By +the eternal stars, Joscelyn, your tongue has a double edge!" + +"A woman has need of a sharp tongue since Providence gave her but +indifferent fists." + +"In sooth, it is the truth with you," he cried, his good-humour restored +as he again caught one of her slender hands and held it up for +inspection. "Nature wasted not much material here; methinks it would +scarce fill a fly with apprehension." + +But she wrung it out of his grasp, and, with an exclamation of +annoyance, turned once more to the window. His expression changed, and +he stood some moments regarding her in silence. At last he said:-- + +"Joscelyn, 'tis now more than two years since you came to live +neighbours with us, and for the last half of that time you and I have +done little else than quarrel. But on my part this disagreement has not +gone below the surface; rather has it been a covering for a tenderer +feeling. I have heard it said that a woman knows instinctively when a +man loves her. Have you spelled out my heart under this show of +dispute?" + +She shrugged her shoulders mockingly. "I am but an indifferent speller, +Master Clevering." + +"Right well do I know that, having seen some of your letters to Betty," +he answered with ready acquiescence. Whereat she flashed upon him a +glance of indignant protest; but he went on calmly, as though he noted +not the look: "But you are a fair reader, and mayhap I used a wrong +term. Have you not read my heart all these months?" + +"It is not given even unto the wise to read so absolute a blank." + +It was his time to wince, but the minutes were flying, the women might +return from the gate at any moment, and this would be his last chance +for a quiet word with her. "Let us have done with this child's play, +Joscelyn. To-morrow I march with my company; 'twill be months, perhaps +years, before we meet again. I love you! Will you not give me some +gentle word, some sweet promise, to fill with hope the time that is to +come?" + +"What manner of promise can you wish?" she asked, her back still toward +him. + +"A promise which shall mean our betrothal." + +"Betrothal?--and we always quarrelling?" + +"Quarrels cease where love doth rule," he answered softly. + +"But I have no love for you." + +"You might have if you would cease dwelling so much on the king's +affairs and think somewhat of me. I would give you love unqualified if +so you would but lean ever so little my way." + +"And think you, Master Clevering, that I would turn traitor for your +love? Nay, sir; I am a loyal subject to King George, and can enter into +no compact with his enemies." + +"Then will I be forced to conquer you along with the other adherents of +the tyrant, for have you I will," he cried impetuously. "An you yield +not to persuasion, you shall yield to force. From this day I hold you as +a part of the English enemy who needs must be subdued; and I do hereby +proclaim war against your prejudice for your heart." + +"And I do accept the challenge, foreseeing your failure in both +causes." She swept him a courtesy full of open defiance and ridicule, +and again turned her back upon him as Betty entered the room. + +But Master Clevering was neither dismayed nor discouraged by the turn +his wooing had taken. He had never thought to win her lightly, and his +combative disposition recognized in the prospect before him the elements +of a struggle, so that he was filled with the keen joy of a warrior at +the onset of the fray. The possibility of final defeat did not occur to +him. + +Bidding Betty an affectionate good-by, Joscelyn quitted the house, +declining his proffered escort, nor did he speak with her again for a +space of many hours; for when the company, bidden that night to a +farewell feast with him, assembled about the board, the chair set for +her was vacant. Betty and Janet glanced meaningly at each other, for +they had seen her at dusk in company with Eustace and Mary Singleton, +and the Singletons were among the most pronounced Tories in the county. +But at the other end of the table Richard only laughed as he thrust his +knife into the fowl before him and felt for the joint. + +"Tell her, Aunt Cheshire, that our loss does not equal hers, since she +gets none of this bird, which is browned to the taste of Epicurus +himself." + +His tone was careless, and in truth he was not surprised at her +defection, for he, too, had seen the Singletons at her gate; and later +on, as he stood at his own door, had seen her, through her lighted +parlour window opposite, take off, for the entertainment of her guests, +his own theatrical entrance in his uniform that afternoon. She was an +excellent mimic, and her sense of humour enabled her to give a ludicrous +side to the scene, which drew forth peals of laughter from her auditors. +The vanity, the swagger, the monumental pose, were so exactly reproduced +that Richard felt a quick tingle of irritation flush his veins. And that +picture was still in his mind as he sat at table among his guests. + +It is questionable whether it would have been an added nettlement or a +relief had he known that she had been aware of his presence across the +way, seeing him distinctly against the hall light behind him, and that +the scene enacted was more for him than for her visitors. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE MARCH OF THE CONTINENTALS. + + "Thou art gone from my gaze like a beautiful dream." + --LINLEY. + + +The Cheshires and Cleverings were not akin, although the young people +gave titles of kinship to the older folk. Mistress Cheshire had been +twice married, her first husband being brother to James Clevering. After +her second widowhood she had moved from New Berne to Hillsboro'-town, to +be near her brother-in-law, for neither she nor her last husband had any +nearer male relative this side of the sea. There had been no quarrel +with the Cleverings concerning her second marriage, so that she found in +Hillsboro' a ready welcome. The inland town promised more peace than the +bustling seaport whence she had moved. There news of king and colony +came in with every vessel that cast anchor at the wharves, and, as a +result, the community was in a constant state of ferment. All this was +very repugnant to Mistress Cheshire, who was a timid woman with no very +decided views upon public questions. Her one ruling desire was for +peace, no matter whence the source; she had lived quite happily under +the king's sceptre; but if Washington could establish a safe and quiet +government, she would have no quarrel either with him or fate. + +But Joscelyn was different. Her father had been an ardent advocate of +kingly rule, and she had imbibed all of his enthusiasm for England and +English sovereignty. He had died just before the battle of Lexington set +the western continent athrob with a new national life. Consequently, the +removal from New Berne had been much against Joscelyn's inclination, for +she desired to be in the front and press of the excitement. But seeing +how her mother's heart was set on it, she finally withdrew her +opposition. Still she carried to her new home the bitter Toryism with +which her father had so deeply ingrained her nature. In another +atmosphere this feeling might have spent itself in idle fancies and vain +regrets; but in daily, almost hourly, contact with the Cleverings, whose +patriotism was ever at high tide, she was kept constantly on the +defensive, and in a spirit of resistance that knew no compromise. The +elder Cleverings and Betty looked upon her outbreaks good-humouredly, +treating them as the whims of a spoiled child. But not so Richard. His +whole soul was in the revolt of the colonies; every nerve in him was +attuned to war and strife, and he was vehemently intolerant of any +adverse opinion, so that between him and Joscelyn the subject came to be +as flint and steel. He did not scruple to tell her that she was foolish, +obstinate, logically blind, and that her opinions were not of the +smallest consequence; and yet the stanch loyalty with which she +defended her cause, and the ready defiance with which she met his every +attack won his admiration. Very speedily he separated her personality +from her views, and loved the one while he despised the other. Nothing +but fear of her ridicule had hitherto held him silent upon the subject +of his love. + +While the merry-making went on at the Cleverings' that last night of his +stay at home, Joscelyn sat playing cards with the Singletons, whom she +persuaded to remain to tea, making her loneliness her plea. + +"It passes my understanding," said Eustace, as he slowly shuffled the +cards, "how these insurgents can hope to win. Even their so-called +congress has had to move twice before the advance of his Majesty's +troops. A nation that has two seats of government in two years seems +rather shifty on its base." + +"It must have been a brave sight to see General Howe march into +Philadelphia," said Joscelyn. "Methinks I can almost hear the drums beat +and see the flags flying in the wind. Would I had been there to cry +'long live the king' with the faithful of the land." + +But Mary shuddered. "I am content to be no nearer than I am to the +battle scenes. The mustering of the Continental company to-day has +satisfied my eyes with martial shows." + +"Call you that a martial show?" her brother laughed derisively. "Why, +that was but a shabby make-believe with only half of the men properly +uniformed and equipped. Martial show, indeed! Rather was it a gathering +of scarecrows. I prophesy that in six months the 'indomitable army of +the young Republic,' as the leaders style the undisciplined rabble that +follows them, will be again quietly ploughing their fields or looking +after other private affairs." + +"And while you are prophesying you are playing your cards most +foolishly, and I am defeating you." + +"True, you have me fairly with that ace. Let us try it again--'Deprissa +resurgit,' as the Continentals say on their worthless paper money." + +"Joscelyn," said Mary suddenly, "did I tell you that Aunt Ann said in +her letter that Cousin Ellen wore a yellow silk to the ball given to +welcome General Howe to Philadelphia?" + +"I do believe you left out that important item," laughed Joscelyn. + +"Why, how came you to be so remiss, I pray you, sister? The flight of +congress from the Quaker city, and its seizure by his Majesty's troops, +are but insignificant matters compared to the fact that our cousin wore +yellow silk to the general's ball," teased her brother. Whereupon Mary +went pouting across the room and sat at the window, calling out to the +players at the table the names of those who went in and out of the house +of festivity opposite. + +"Yonder are Mistress Strudwick and Doris Henderson--dear me! I wonder +what it feels like to be so stout as Mistress Strudwick? Billy Bryce and +his mother are just behind them. I see Janet and Betty through the +window. Betty has on that pink brocade with the white lace." + +"Then I warrant some of those recruits will go to the war already +wounded, for in that gown Mistress Betty is sweet enough to break any +man's heart." + +"Eustace, I do believe you are halfway in love with Betty." + +"Why put it only halfway, my dear? The whole is ever better than a +part." + +"What think you, Joscelyn, is he in earnest? And how does Betty like +him?" + +But Joscelyn laughingly quoted the biblical text about being "unevenly +yoked together with unbelievers," reminding Mary that Betty was a Whig, +and Eustace a Loyalist, and this was a bar that even Cupid must not pull +down. Whereupon Eustace laughed aloud; and Mary was satisfied. + +Early the next morning Betty ran over to make her protest against +Joscelyn's absence of the night before. "Richard seemed not to care, but +mother and I were much chagrined that you did not come." + +"I certainly meant no offence to you and Aunt Clevering," answered +Joscelyn, "but Richard and I have a way of forgetting our company +manners which is most unpleasant to spectators." + +"Yes; mother read Richard a most proper lecture this morning about the +way he quarrels with you, and he is coming over later to make his peace; +he says he thinks that perhaps mother is right, and that he will feel +better to carry in his heart no grudge against any one when he goes into +battle. And you must be very kind to him, Joscelyn, for it is a great +concession on his part to apologize thus. Supposing if--if anything +happened to him, and you had sent him away in anger!" + +Joscelyn drew the young girl to her. "So you have appointed yourself +keeper-in-chief of my conscience? Well, well; I will hold a most strict +watch over my tongue during the next few hours, so that it may give you +no offence. Still, I am not easily conscience-stricken, and neither, I +think, is Master Clevering." + +"The Singletons passed the evening with you, did they not?" asked Betty, +who had glanced across at her friend's window the night before, and had +seen them playing cards together. + +"Yes; and Eustace said some very pretty things about you and your pink +frock. What a pity you are of different political beliefs, for--Why, +Betty, what a beautiful colour has come into your cheeks." + +"Stuff, Joscelyn! But--what said Master Singleton?" And when the speech +was repeated, the girl's sweet face was redder than ever. + +For a few moments Joscelyn looked at her in consternation. Betty cared +for Eustace! It seemed the very acme of irony. Then tenderly she stroked +the brown hair, wondering silently at the game of cross-purposes love is +always playing. Uncle and Aunt Clevering, with their violent views, +would follow Betty to her grave rather than to her bridal with Eustace, +for, besides the party differences, the older folk of the two families +had long been separated by a bitter quarrel over a title-deed. +Joscelyn's own friendship for Mary and Eustace had been the cause of +some sharp words between her and her uncle; a thousand times more would +he resent Betty's defection. "But they shall not break her heart!" she +said to herself, with a sudden tightening of her arms about the clinging +girl. + +An hour later Richard knocked at the door and was admitted by Mistress +Cheshire, for Joscelyn had gone to her own room at the sound of his step +outside. + +"No, I will not come down. I have promised Betty not to quarrel with +him, and the only way to keep my word is not to see him," she said to +her mother over the banister. "Tell him I hope he will soon come back +whole of body, but as gloriously defeated as all rebels deserve to be." + +In vain her mother urged, and in vain Richard called from the foot of +the stair; she neither answered nor appeared in sight. + +"Tell her, Aunt Cheshire, that I never thought to find her hiding in her +covert; a soldier who believes in his cause hesitates not to meet his +adversary in open field; it is the doubtful in courage or confidence who +run to cover." And he went down the step with his head up angrily and +his sword clanging behind him. + +In the upper hall Joscelyn held her hands tightly over her mouth to +force back the stinging retort. Then, with a derisive smile, she went +downstairs and sat in the hall window, in plain view of the street and +the house across the way. + +That afternoon his company marched afield. The town was full of noise +and excitement, and the mingled sound of sobbing and of forced laughter, +as the line was formed in the market-place and moved with martial step +down the long, unpaved street, the rolling drums and clear-toned bugles +stirring the blood to a frenzy of enthusiasm. The sidewalks were lined +with spectators, the patriots shouting, the luke-warm looking on +silently. Every house along the route through the town was hung with +wind-swung wreaths of evergreen or streamers of the bonny buff and +blue--every one until they reached the Cheshire dwelling. There the +shutters were close drawn as though some grief brooded within, and upon +the outside of the closed door hung a picture of King George framed in +countless loops of scarlet ribbon that flamed out like a sun-blown poppy +by contrast with the soberer tints of the Continentals. Here was a +challenge that none might misunderstand. The sight was as the red rag in +the toreador's hand to the bull in the arena; and, like an infuriated +animal, the crowd surged and swayed and rent the air with an angry roar. +The marching line came suddenly to a full stop without a word of +command, and the roar was interspersed with hisses. Then there was a +rush forward, and twenty hands tore at the pictured face and flaunting +ribbons, and brought them out to be trampled under foot in the dust of +the road, while a voice cried out of the crowd:-- + +"Down with the Royalists! Fire!" + +And there was a rattle and a flash of steel down the martial line as +muskets went to shoulders. But Richard Clevering, pale with fear, sprang +to the steps between the deadly muzzles and the door and lifted a hand +to either upright, while his voice rang like a trumpet down the line:-- + +"Stay! There are no men here. This is but a girl's mad prank. Men, men, +turn not your guns against two lonely women; save your weapons for +rightful game! Shoulder arms! Forward! March!" + +There was a moment's hesitation, a muttering down the ranks; then the +guns were shouldered and the column fell once more into step with the +drums, while the crowd shouted its approval. But above the last echoes +of that shout a woman's jeering laugh rang out upon the air; and, +lifting eyes, the crowd beheld Joscelyn Cheshire, clad in a scarlet +satin bodice, lean out of her opened casement and knot a bunch of that +same bright-hued ribbon upon the shutter. With the throng in such +volcanic temper it was a perilous thing to do; and yet so insidious was +her daring, so great her beauty, that not so much as a stone was cast at +this new signal of loyalty, and not a voice was lifted in anger. + +And this was the last vision that Richard had of her--the vivid, glowing +picture he carried in his heart through the long campaigns, whether it +was as he rushed through the smoke-swirls of battle or bivouacked under +the cold, white stars. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ONWARD TO VALLEY FORGE. + + "He is the freeman whom the truth makes free, + And all are slaves besides." + --COWPER. + + +The colony of North Carolina had long been ready for rebellion against +kingly authority. Governor Tryon had sown the seeds of discontent by his +unpopular measures, and the taxes levied upon the people that he might +build his "palace" at New Berne. This discontent had culminated in the +insurrection of the Regulators and the battle of Alamance, where was +made the first armed stand against England. But Tryon was victorious, +and the captured leaders of the insurrection were hanged on Regulators' +hill in Hillsboro'-town. But from that field of Alamance, the defeated +people carried to their homes the same persistent, haunting dream of +liberty which was to rise incarnate when the tocsin of the Revolution +blew through the land. + +That tocsin waked many an echo among the hills that surrounded the town +upon the Eno. At the first call to arms, the older men had gone to the +field, some marching away to the north, others serving under the +partisan leaders throughout their own section. Now the younger +ones--those who had been but boys when the cannon at Lexington made the +pulse of the people first to quicken and throb--were going out to bear +their share in the fray. + +For the past year the company of which Richard Clevering was a member +had done service in the militia at home, keeping the Tories in a +semblance of subjection, and now and then going to Sumter's aid when he +made one of those electrical sallies which were like lightning flashes +amid the general storm. In this hard school Richard had learned his +first lessons in soldiering; but graver and sterner military work was +now ahead, for the company was marching northward to aid in recruiting +Washington's regular army, reduced and discouraged by the terrible +winter at Valley Forge. + +When they started, the willows that fringed the Eno, that fierce little +river that winds about Hillsboro', had already lost their winter +grayness, and, with the rising of the sap, had taken on that wonderful +golden brown which is the aureole of the coming springtime. The +bluebirds had not yet come back to the fence corners, but the earth was +soggy with the thaw, and from under the whirls of last year's dead +leaves, crocuses were holding up green signals to the sun. But as the +troop held their steady way to the north the spring signs disappeared, +and hoar frost and bleak winds told that winter's reign was not yet +over. + +It was a long tramp up through the Virginia woods and along the salt +marshes of the coast, and down and up the desolate streams hunting a +ford. But youth and enthusiasm lighten many a burden, and to Richard the +greatest hardship was lack of news from Joscelyn. The thought of her +tugged at his heart, and if his step ever lagged in the line, it was +because the memory of her face drew him back with that sickening sense +of longing that youth finds so hard to resist. At every chance he sent +her a missive. + +"Not that she will care, but just to show her _I_ do," he said, trying +to convince himself there was no bitterness in the thought. + +Peter Ruffin, marching beside him, often looked at the knit brows and +compressed lips and smiled, guessing something of the cause; he said to +himself that it was safer to leave a wife behind than a sweetheart, +since one was sure to find the wife waiting his return, while a +sweetheart might be gone with a fresher fancy. But little Billy Bryce, +who could never have kept up with the line had it not been for Richard's +aid now and then, could not fathom the meaning of that dark look in his +benefactor's face, and so was silent and sorry. + +The March winds tore at them, and the storms pelted them as they tramped +the rugged roads or slept in their thin tents, and the bullets that they +had intended for the enemy, often went to provide game for their daily +sustenance. The Tories of the districts through which they passed +sometimes rallied to oppose them, so that they had to fight their way +through ambuscades, or, when the enemy greatly outnumbered them, slip +away under cover of night or by circuitous paths through the forest and +swamps. + +And so, at last, toward the end of March, they reached their goal--the +encampment at Valley Forge, and shuddered at the desolation they +witnessed. As the little band marched down the streets of the military +village, gaunt men who had survived the horrors of the winter came out +to meet them with huzzas, and the drums beat a long welcome. Their +coming was as a thrill that runs through a half-numb body, a sign of +revivification and awakened hope. But under it all was a sense of +unspeakable sadness that filled the hearts of the newcomers with a +strange wistfulness of pity and admiration. + +The succeeding weeks were given up literally to camp work, to ceaseless +mustering and drilling under the vigilant eye of Baron Steuben, until +the newcomers lost the air of recruits and bore themselves with the +semblance of veterans. + +"We had hoped to fight under Morgan," Richard wrote his mother, "but, +doubtless for excellent reasons, we are to be assigned to General +Wayne's command, which just now sorely needs strengthening. Save that +Morgan is from our part of the country, the change matters not to me, +since both men are fearless leaders. What I want is a fray, and with +either of these men I am like to get my fill." + +Here there was a long blot on the page, as though the back of his quill +had been drawn along a line. In truth it had, for he had started to send +a message to Joscelyn, and then with a sudden accession of determination +had erased it, lest she come to think he had never anything in mind save +herself. But he fondled the letter as he folded it, knowing that her +fingers would doubtless hold each page and her eyes travel along each +line, for his mother would share her news of him with her neighbours +over the way. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE COMPANY ON THE VERANDA. + + "Heaven first taught letters for some wretch's aid, + Some banished lover or some captive maid." + --POPE. + + +For several weeks after the departure of the soldiers an expectant hush +settled over Hillsboro'-town--the reaction of the mustering and drilling +that had gone before. So few men were left in the town that Janet +Cameron one day dressed herself in the garb of a nun, and, with the +feigned humility of folded hands and downcast eyes, went calling upon +her companions "of the convent town." A ripple of merriment followed in +her wake, for she made a most quaint figure. But the Reverend Hugh +McAden, meeting her upon the corner, so reprimanded her for her levity +that she ran home in tears and hid her gray frock and hood in the +garret. Joscelyn sobered her own face and made the girl's peace with the +reverend gentleman with such explanations as at last seemed to him +reasonable. But Janet went on no more masquerading tours. + +With both the work and the gayety of the town interrupted, there was +nothing of moment to engage attention but the news that came once in a +while from the camps and battle-fields. The interest in this was shared +by every one, so that all the tidings, whether by message or letter, +were looked upon as public property. News that came by word of mouth was +cried out from the church steps or the court-house door, for no good +citizen wished to keep his knowledge to himself. Thus it fell out when +it became known that a missive had come from Richard to Joscelyn, that a +score or more of women gathered about her door to learn the contents. +She came out to them upon the veranda, her saucy beauty enhanced by the +scarlet bodice, her eyes full of laughter. + +"Read you Master Clevering's letter?--As you will, Mistress Strudwick; +you may perchance find more of interest in it than I," she answered with +that sweet courtesy she showed ever to her elders. And so having +enthroned Mistress Strudwick upon the wicker bench of the porch, while +the others disposed themselves upon the steps and the grass of the +terrace which sloped directly to the street, she unfolded her letter and +cleared her throat pompously as is the manner of public speakers. + +"I pray you have patience with me, good ladies," she said, "if so I read +but slowly. Master Clevering ever had trouble with his spelling; and as +for the writing, 'tis as though a fly had half drowned itself in the +inkhorn and then crawled upon the page." + +Then did she proceed to read them the letter from its greeting to its +close, pausing now and then to laboriously spell out a word. There were +accounts of the life at Valley Forge, of the drilling and the picket +duty and the ceaseless watching of the enemy. Then there was an exultant +description of the victory at far-off Stillwater, as it was given to him +by a fellow-soldier who had been a participant. + + "Said I not the Continentals would win? Would I had been there to + see! Five times was one cannon captured and recaptured. How + glorious the fighting was; and think of the surrender! Well, well, + it consoles me somewhat to think of that coming last surrender of + that archest of all the Royalists. I shall bear a part in that, for + it is to me the capitulation will be made--" + +"Why, dear me, is Master Clevering to be made commander-in-chief of the +American forces, that his Majesty's troops should yield arms to him?" +Joscelyn broke off to ask with assumed innocence. "I heard naught of his +rapid promotion." + +"Come, come, Joscelyn, leave off sneering at Richard and read us the +rest." + +She laughed as she turned the page. + + "Say to Mistress Strudwick that the fame of her gallant brother, + Major William Shepperd, hath reached even this remote quarter, and + his old friends glory in his prowess. Little Jimmy Nash has lost + his wits and wants another pair-- + +("A pair of wits! What can that mean? Oh, I ask your pardon, Mistress +Nash; it is 'mits,' not 'wits.' Master Clevering hath so queer a +handwriting.) + + "--and wants another pair; let his mother know, that she may knit + them and send them by the first chance." + +There were other messages and news items which the girl read, and then +came the signature. + +"There follows here a postscript which perchance some of you may help me +to unravel," she added; and then, with the air of a town-crier +announcing his errand, she proceeded:-- + + "To the girl of my heart say this, that I forget not I am fighting + for her, and that I look upon every Redcoat my gun can bring down + as one more obstacle removed from betwixt us. I think of her + always." + +She paused and puckered her brow in a perplexed frown. "Now who, I pray +you, is the girl of his heart? Cannot some of you help me to guess?" + +"Methinks 'twould be an easy task for you," laughed Mistress Strudwick. + +"_Me?_" repeated Joscelyn, still with that air of perplexed innocence. +"Nay, he was ever so full of jokes and quarrels that it never came to me +he had a heart." + +"Mayhap it is Dorothy Graham he means," said a voice in the crowd. + +"More like 'tis Patience Ruffin." + +"Or little Janet Cameron--he set much store by her." + +"Nay," said a teasing voice, "Janet is going to be a nun; such messages +to her would not be proper." Whereat there was a general laugh. + +"Whoever she is, 'tis a pity she should miss her love message through +her lover's obscurity and our ignorance," said Joscelyn. "What think +you, Mistress Strudwick, were it not a good plan to post this page upon +the banister here that all who pass may read? In this wise we may find +the maid." + +With a pin from her bodice, and using her high-heeled slipper--which she +drew off for the purpose--as a hammer, she tacked the paper to the +banister. But it had not fluttered twice in the wind ere Betty had +snatched it down. + +"Shame on you, Joscelyn, for so exposing my brother's letter!" + +"Oh, I meant not to anger you, Betty," returned the girl, sweetly, as +she took the letter again and thrust it into her bodice. "Since you like +not this plan, we will have the town-crier search out the mysterious +damsel and bring her here to read for herself. Let us see how the cry +would run: 'Wanted, wanted, the girl of Richard Clevering's heart to +read his greeting on Mistress Cheshire's porch!'" + +She stooped to buckle her shoe, her foot on the round of Mistress +Strudwick's chair, and so they saw not the laughter in her eyes. She +knew well that Betty would not fail to write Richard of the scene, and +she already fancied his anger; she could have laughed aloud. "Methinks +I have paid you back a score, Master Impertinence," she said to herself, +and then fell to talking to Dorothy Graham until the company dispersed. +That night Betty, running in on a message from her mother, found +Joscelyn using the fragments of the ill-fated letter to curl the long +hair of Gyp, the house-dog, and she went home to add an indignant +postscript to the missive to her brother, over which she had spent the +afternoon. But even as she wrote she knew he would not heed her advice; +and sure enough, in course of time another letter came to the house on +the terrace:-- + + "The girl of my heart is that teasing Tory, Joscelyn Cheshire, who + conceals her tender nature under such show of scorning. One day her + love shall strike its scarlet colours to the blue and buff of mine; + and her lips, instead of mocking, will be given over to smiles and + kisses, for which purpose nature made them so beautiful. + + "Post this on your veranda for the town to read, an you will, + sweetheart. For my part, I care not if the whole world knows that I + love you." + +But Joscelyn did no such thing. Instead, she thrust the letter out of +sight, and refused to read it even to Betty, who had only half forgiven +her for her former offence against her brother. + +As the days passed, however, Betty was full of concern for the +privations Richard endured, and out of sheer force of habit she carried +her plaint to Joscelyn. + +"Richard drills six hours a day, rain or shine," she said, with an +expostulatory accent on the numeral. + +"Dear me, is he that hard of learning? Methinks even _I_ could master +the art of shouldering a gun and turning out my toes in less time than +that. It seems not so difficult a matter." + +"And even after all this," Betty went on, taking no heed of the other's +laugh, "he may not rest at night, but must needs do picket duty or go on +reconnoitring expeditions. And he hath not tasted meat in two weeks, not +since he hath been in camp." + +"What a shame! A soldier such as Master Clevering should sit among the +fleshpots and sleep all night in a feather bed." + +"I knew you would laugh," Betty said with sudden heat. "You treat +Richard as though he counted for naught; but the truth is, Joscelyn, you +are not half good enough for him." + +And Betty flung out of the house with her chin in the air, while +Joscelyn kissed her hand to her with playful courtesy, but with a +genuine admiration for her spirit. + +But she softened not her heart toward Richard. Because of his impatience +with her opinions, and the personal nature of their disputes and +oppositions, he had come to typify to her the very core and heart of +the insurrection. She knew this was foolish, that he was in truth +but an insignificant part of the general turmoil; and yet he was the +prominent figure that always came before her when the talk turned on the +Revolution, no matter in what company she was. His masterful ways of +wooing and cool assumption of her preference also grated harshly upon +her, and even in his absence her heart was often hot against him. She +listened indifferently to his mother's and Betty's praise of him. + +Her position in the community was rather a peculiar one; for while many +of her companions disliked her tenets, they loved her for her merry ways +and grace of manner, and so they refused to listen to some of the more +rabid members who counselled ostracism. Her mother, too, was a strong +bond between her and the public; for when the patriotic women of the +town met together to sew and knit for the absent soldiers, Mistress +Cheshire often went with them, and no needle was swifter than hers. It +was her neighbours she was helping; the soldiers were a secondary +consideration. She was not going to quarrel with Ann Clevering and +Martha Strudwick because their husbands had fallen out with the king; +that was his Majesty's affair, not hers, and she did not believe in +meddling in other people's quarrels. But Joscelyn shut herself in her +room on these days and read her English history; or else, being deft +with her pencil, made numerous copies of the historical pictures of King +George and his ministers, which were pinned up on the railing of her +balcony as a new testimonial of her loyalty. But no sooner was her back +turned than some passer-by tore them away, sometimes leaving instead a +written threat of retaliation that made her mother's heart cold with a +nameless dread. + +It was in the end of March, some six weeks after the departure of the +troops, that sad news came from the south. Where the Pedee widened +toward its mouth a blow had been struck for liberty, and Uncle Clevering +had fallen in a charge with Sumter. + +There had been a body of Tories to disperse, a wagon-train to capture, +and despatches to intercept; and Sumter's troops, knowing this, rode all +the windy night through moonshine and shadow to surprise the enemy in +the daffodil dawn of that March morning. Swift, silent, resistless, like +spectres of the gray forest, they came upon the astonished Redcoats--and +kept their tryst with Victory! The prisoners, the wagon-train, the +despatches were theirs; but one of them had ridden to his rendezvous +with death. The elder Clevering's horse was led back through all the +long miles to Hillsboro' with the stirrups crossed over the saddle; and +Ann Clevering sat in her house, bereft. Each day Martha Strudwick and +other friends went to her with words of kindly commiseration; but it was +Mistress Cheshire who did most to comfort the afflicted widow, so that +these two were drawn yet closer together with that bond of sympathy that +comes of a mutual loss. And in Betty's or Mistress Clevering's presence +Joscelyn never again talked tauntingly of English prowess, since it was +an English bullet that had wrought such sorrow to her friends. But even +this death, shocking as it was to her, in no way shook her allegiance to +the cause she held to be right. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WINDING THE SKEIN. + + "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." + --BROWNING. + + +It was April, and the days came with a sheen of blue sky between rifts +of rain. + +Quick steps sounded at the Cheshire door, and the brass knocker beat +like an anvil through the house, setting the maid's feet in a run to +answer it. Joscelyn came down from her room with wide eyes of curiosity +to find Eustace Singleton in the parlour, a great nosegay of roses in +his hand. + +"From the knocking you kept up, I thought the whole Continental army +must be at my door! You have brought me the first roses of the year," +she exclaimed; "how kind!" and she stretched out her hand for the +flowers. + +"No--they are not for you--not exactly," he stammered, holding them out +of her reach. + +"Mother will appreciate them, and I shall enjoy them quite the same." + +"No, she will not, for I had her not in mind when I plucked them." + +"Oh!" + +"I was thinking of--of--'n faith, Joscelyn, I was thinking of Mistress +Betty Clevering." + +"Of Betty Clevering! Red roses for Betty Clevering!" + +"They are not all red. See this one; it is near as buff as her own party +colour." + +The girl nodded, smiling at his eagerness. He walked the length of the +room, then stopped before her abruptly. + +"Joscelyn, I leave for the front to-night." + +"I did not know--" + +"Yes; I have but waited orders from Lord Cornwallis. This morning a +messenger brought them, and I am to report at once. His lordship has +been most kind because of my father's friendship when they were boys, +and I am appointed aide upon his staff." + +She held out her hand impulsively. "'Tis what we hoped for you." + +"But," he went on hurriedly, "I cannot go without first speaking with +Mistress Betty. Methinks I cannot fight against her people without first +asking her pardon. Oh, of course, that sounds foolish; but will you help +me, Joscelyn? It would be useless for me to go to her house; the door +would be shut in my face." + +"And you want me--" + +"I want you to ask her here now, and then go away upstairs like the dear +girl you are, and give me a chance." + +"Aunt Clevering would never forgive me." + +"She need not know; think up some excuse for sending for Betty." + +"And Betty herself might be angry." + +"Not with you. She may turn me away. I have small hope, for she has +always been so shy, and public questions and private quarrels have kept +our families so far apart. You know how seldom we meet; but speak with +her I must, for who knows whether I shall ever come back? My departure +to-night must, of course, be in secret, for were my intentions known, I +should be apprehended and held, mayhap hanged for treason. This is my +one chance to see Betty; you are going to send for her, Joscelyn?" + +She hesitated: she hated deception, and she loved her Aunt Clevering. +Then there came to her the memory of Betty's face when she had teased +her about Eustace, and her own resolution to be the girl's friend where +so much heartache and opposition awaited her. This was her opportunity; +if she refused it, she would be abetting the general harshness the girl +was likely to encounter. She left the room without a word, and presently +Eustace saw through the window her little maid dart across the street +and into the opposite gate. + +"Thank you," he said jubilantly, taking her hand when she reëntered the +room. + +"Wait and see if she comes. She is here but seldom these days; partly +because she is still angry with me about Richard, and partly because of +the sorrow that came to her a month ago. She may not accept my +invitation." + +But even as she spoke, a clear voice cried in the hall: "Joscelyn, +Joscelyn, are you upstairs?" + +"Nay, I am here," and she met the girl at the door and drew her into the +parlour. + +Eustace came forward smiling. "Now, Mistress Betty, I call this a lucky +chance to have dropped in here when you were coming to sit with +Joscelyn. Fortune does sometimes favour even so humble a subject as I. +Let me move this chair for you." + +Betty's cheeks had reddened faintly, and she glanced quickly from him to +Joscelyn, but found in neither face any confirmation of a suspicion that +stirred in her mind. Joscelyn was turning over a great pile of coloured +worsteds. + +"You promised to help me sort the colours for my new cross-stitch--you +have such a fine eye for contrasts. But since Eustace is here, methinks +we had best put it off; men are so impatient over such matters," she +said. + +"Nay, nay," he protested; "you slander me along with the rest of my +fellow-men. Mistress Betty here shall prove it, for I will hold those +tangled skeins for her, and she will find that I am patience itself." + +"Very well, we will put you to the test. What think you, Betty, will +this green do for the flower stems?--You like that shade better?--Hold +out your hands, Eustace. Now, Betty, wind that while I find a blue for +the flowers." + +Never was anything brought about more naturally and deftly. Almost +before she was aware, Betty found herself seated in front of Eustace, +who was making great show of resignation. + +"How does a man sometimes fall from the high estate of his manhood and +dignity and become no better than a wooden frame whereon to hang a +length of yarn," he said, laughing; then coloured with pleasure as Betty +bent toward the table and put her face close to the roses lying there. + +"Ah, how sweet! I have only a few buds, as yet. Master Singleton brought +them to you, Joscelyn?" + +"On the contrary, he said expressly they were not for me. There is no +blue in this lot of wools, I must have left it upstairs. 'Tis a shame I +have to mount those steps again. I hope you will have that skein wound +by the time I find the blue one." At the door she paused and looked back +archly at Eustace; then, blowing a kiss to Betty's unconscious back, she +went away, shutting the door softly behind her. + +"God bless you, Betty dear; I hope I am acting for your happiness," she +said to herself on the stairs. + +Betty added to her soft ball in unruffled silence for a minute. Then, +glancing up, she met Eustace's gaze, and her hand faltered in its +winding. + +"Do you know for whom I brought the roses?" he asked, bending toward +her. + +"Stay, Master Singleton, you are dropping the skein--and you promised to +be so patient." + +"True, true; I have it all in a mess. Wind your ball up closer that we +may pass it through this loop." + +And so they set themselves, with here a turn and there a backward twist, +to that old task of unravelling the snarled skein. Now and then their +fingers touched, and both hands trembled and both faces reddened; +Eustace's from the exquisite pleasure of the contact, for never before +had they been so alone, so near together, and out of pure joy he would +have prolonged the happiness. But the shadows were already lengthening +backward to the east, and with nightfall he must be away. And so when +Betty's little hand was again near to his he seized it in both of his. + +"Betty--sweetheart--I love you!" + +The thread was snapped apart, and the ball fell to the floor, but he +held her hands fast. + +"Nay, you must listen to me, for this night I go away to bear my share +in the war, perchance to give my life for the cause I hold to be right. +But before I go I must tell you what is in my heart--tell you that I +love you as a man loves the woman to whom he gives his name, with whom +he leaves his honour. And not only must I tell you that, but I must hear +you say that, believing as I do, you do not blame me for going to the +war. You do not blame me, do you?" + +Her hands lay still in his, but her head was bent so low he could not +see into her eyes. + +"This war means everything to me, for the enemies of the king against +whom I shall have to fight are my neighbours and acquaintances, and, +worse still, the near and dear relatives of my love. Under such +circumstances you do not think I would fight save from principle?" + +"No." + +"And you do not condemn the step I am taking, even though it sets me +against your dear ones? I cannot see things as they do." + +She lifted her head and looked at him squarely for a moment. "Every man +should follow the dictates of his conscience." + +"I knew your heart would recognize the justice of my case. And when it +is all over, and I come back, you will not let this stand between +us--you will be my wife?" + +But she drew her hand away, shaking her head with downcast eyes, and his +pleading was futile. "To promise you would be to go against my mother, +and it were undutiful in me to add to her present distress; now that my +father is dead and my brother gone to the war, my mother has only me to +comfort her." + +"Then at least let me carry away the glad assurance that you care for +me; that will suffice, for, if you love me, you will wait for me." + +"You--you will find me waiting," she whispered; and then her lips +trembled under the kiss that he put upon them. + +But there was a sound at the door, a warning rattle of the knob, and out +of consideration for her he let her go. + +"Aunt Clevering is calling you, Betty," Joscelyn said, but she did not +enter. "She'll be there directly, Aunt Clevering," she called from the +front door. And presently, when Betty passed her with Eustace's colours +flaming in her cheeks and his roses on her breast, she knew that Redcoat +and not Continental had won this battle in her parlour. + +"She would not promise me," Eustace said, wringing her hand; "but I am +so happy, for there are some things that are better than a spoken +promise." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE FÊTE AT PHILADELPHIA. + + "Drink to her that each loves best; + And if you nurse a flame + That's told but to her mutual breast, + We will not ask her name." + --CAMPBELL. + + +The sixth day of May dawned clear at Valley Forge. In the crowded huts +and tents was an unusual stir, a brushing and repairing of ragged +uniforms, and a burnishing of bayonets and sword-hilts. Then the bugles +sounded their stirring call, and the morning sun looked down upon the +army drawn up in two lines upon the drill plateau. Richard, gazing down +the line in front of him, and knowing that the one in which he stood was +but its ragged prototype, felt his heart swell with admiration and a +sickening pity; for everywhere were the marks of privation and +starvation. Only the faces, transfigured by the radiance of a new hope, +told of the unconquered wills that lay dormant under the scars of +suffering. + +Thus they heard the news for which they had been mustered into +line--France had acknowledged the independence of the colonies, and +would send them substantial martial aid. Franklin had won, and the +_fleur-de-lys_ was to float beside the star-studded banner of the young +republic fighting for her life. + +When the proclamation was read, a salute of thirteen guns boomed out, +each the symbolic voice of a State pledging allegiance to the new +alliance. Down the lines went the rattle of musketry, and there rolled +up a shout that filled the blue hollow of the sky with its hoarse echo. + +"Long live the king of France!" + +"Long live the new Republic!" + +"Hip--hip--huzza!" + +It was as if the prisoned joy of months had broken into song. Scars and +tatters and hunger, pains and aching wounds were forgotten, and only the +radiance of peace and freedom yet to come shone in the dazzled upturned +eyes. + +"Long live the lilies of France!" + +When it was all done Richard sat down to write by the light of a pine +knot one of those letters that Joscelyn hated. + + "I am much grieved at the news of you in Betty's last letter. She + says you daily draw upon yourself the disapproval of the townsfolk + by your public rejoicing over news of any British success. This is + not wise in you, for the people are in no temper to be mocked; and + I feel my hands grow cold at the thought that some danger may come + near you, and I too far away to stand between you and it! Go often + to see my mother, both because she loves you and because the + friendship of so good a patriot will be a safeguard in the + community. Betty hath writ me so queer a page about trying to love + my enemies, and her hope that I will look carefully at every man + toward whom my gun is pointed so that I shoot not a neighbour, that + I am at a loss to understand her meaning--unless, indeed, she hath + been tainted by your Toryism. What think you hath come to the + little minx?" + +She would not answer the epistle, of course--she never did; but it was +such a relief to put his feelings into words. That she would be angry at +some of his words he knew, but it made him laugh to think of the +disdainful lips and flashing eyes. + +He must have laughed aloud, for a man stretched upon the ground suddenly +asked him what the joke was. + +"Oh, just a passing thought," Richard answered. "A man has to think +funny things to keep alive in this state of inactivity into which we are +called." + +"You would like a little excitement?" + +"Indeed I should. 'Tis now six weeks since I came into camp, and only +that one secret trip with you down the river has broken the monotony of +drilling and mounting guard." + +The man, a Virginian named Dunn, one of the most daring and capable +scouts of the army, smoked a moment in silence. + +"How would you like to witness the festivities in honour of General Howe +before he leaves Philadelphia?" + +Richard's eyes lit up. "Take me with you, Dunn!" he cried, with great +eagerness. + +"H-u-s-h!" said Dunn. "Nothing is arranged yet; but there will be much +to learn of the enemy's intended movements, and when would there fall so +fine a chance as these days of festivity when wine and tongues will both +run free? If I can so fix it, you shall go with me; you suit me better +than Price, for you are quicker to catch a cue. You have got just one +fault for this kind of business--you are always so d--n sure of yourself +and your own powers; a little humility would improve you." + +Richard laughed and wrung his hand. "You can knock me down for a +conceited coxcomb, only take me with you." + +For a few days the French alliance was the all-absorbing theme of talk; +and La Fayette's laughing prophecy that France's recognition of a +republic would one day come home to her seemed, to these aroused sons of +Liberty, like an augury that the countries of the Old World would one +day follow in the paths their swords were blazing out--the paths that +lead over thrones and crowns to self-government. But Richard soon had +other things whereof to think. Dunn was planning his expedition into the +lines of the enemy; but two weeks went by before he came to Richard's +tent and beckoned him aside. + +"To-night at eight, by the pine tree down the road. I have spoken to +your captain, so there will be no hubbub about your absence. Bring no +arms but your pistols." + +Under the young May moon Richard kept his tryst with the veteran scout, +as eager as a lover to meet his mistress. + +"Sit down," said Dunn. "I shall tell you my mission, for I do not work +by halves. Sometimes an assistant has to act on his own responsibility, +and he spoils sport if he does not know the plan. First, we are to find +out when the British are to move, what is their destination, and by what +road they will go. If an attack is to be made before-hand on our camp, +we must bring back the plans. If there is a chance for our men to strike +a blow, we must know it." + +"And how are we to learn these things?" + +"By keeping our ears and eyes open and our wits sharpened. It will +take cool heads and steady nerves. We are to gain entrance into the +city as ordinary labourers. In this bundle are the necessary clothes. +Circumstances must govern us after we are there. Now to get ready." + +It took but a few minutes to transform the soldiers into workmen, so far +as dress makes a transformation. Leaving their uniforms in the hollow +of a tree, where Dunn's man was to search for them, they mounted their +horses and set off by an unused road toward the distant city. The direct +route would have given them about twenty miles of travel, but the +numerous diversions they were obliged to make added a fourth of that +distance to their journey, so there was a gray streak of dawn in the +sky ahead of them when they drew rein at a lonely cabin on the edge +of a wood, beyond which were the cleared fields of a farm that skirted +the city. On the door of this hut Dunn struck three sharp taps, then +one, then two. After the signal was repeated the door was cautiously +opened by a man within, who, upon being assured of the identity of the +newcomers, bade them enter; and Richard found himself in an humble room +whose rafters were hung with drying herbs that gave out a pungent odour. + +In a few words Dunn explained to the man, whom he called George, +something of their purpose. + +"Well, I was expecting you. My vegetable cart starts in two hours; one +of you can go with me, the other must straggle on behind, for two would +be more than is safe with one cart. My daily pass allows me an +assistant." + +[Illustration: "THUS THEY PASSED, WITH SMALL PARLEY, THE PICKET POSTS."] + +When their horses had been hidden in an out-house, Richard and Dunn +threw themselves down and slept heavily until the carter aroused them. +The smell of breakfast, along with his eagerness for the coming +adventure, made Richard quick to answer the summons, and in a short time +the three were on their way. It had been arranged that Richard, who knew +nothing of the city, should go on with the carter, and that Dunn should +take his chances and follow. But in the public road, where other carts +were beginning to appear, they overtook a black-eyed lass carrying a +huge basket of eggs. It took but a few glances, flashed coquettishly +across the road, to bring Richard to her side. There were some gallant +speeches, a protest that ended in a pouting laugh, and then the two went +down the road like old friends, merry with the carelessness of youth, +she swinging her hands idly, he carrying her basket. Thus they passed, +with small parley, the picket posts, for the guards knew the girl who +came and went daily with her market wares. + +Once they were in the city, Richard bade adieu to his companion, and, +after some little search, joined Dunn behind the market-house, the +latter having slipped in by an obscure alley. They soon knew from the +talk on the streets and the general air of bustle that the fête they had +come to witness was to begin on the water, so they repaired to the pier +above the city and waited for a chance to slip into the crowd. The +opportunity came through a boatman, who wanted two men to help row his +barge down to the appointed landing. They readily bargained to go, and +took their places in the boat, which was soon filled with a gay crowd of +ladies and their escorts, all in gala humour and attire. Richard, +sitting in front of Dunn, forgot all about his oar as he watched the +flutter of the brilliant throng, the glowing faces, the flashing smiles. +Never before had he seen so many magnificent costumes or such an array +of masculine and feminine beauty. But there was one face that seemed +strangely familiar--a face with dark eyes and tropical colouring of +olive and carmine. Where had he seen it? Nowhere, he felt sure, for a +girl like that was not to be forgotten. And yet his eyes went back to +her as to a friend. Who, then, was it she resembled? He was searching +his memory for a cue when suddenly something struck him sharply on the +arm, and Dunn said in a whisper:-- + +"Mind your oar and quit gaping that way; the whole company will be +noticing it directly, and coming over to examine you, and that'll be a +pretty kettle of fish!" + +Richard picked up his oar quickly, ashamed of his defection; but for the +life of him he could not keep his eyes from the dark, vivacious face +across the boat, until her escort, a splendidly dressed officer of +Howe's staff, laughed and said to her:-- + +"I told you all hearts would be at your feet this day, and see, even the +boatman over there is worshipping from afar." + +The half whisper reached Richard, and as the girl turned toward him +their eyes met. She laughed, and then threw up her head with a +disdainful toss, turning back to her companion. But the gesture had +cleared the doubt in Richard's mind. It was Mary Singleton over again, +and the vivid likeness was to her. This must be her Philadelphia cousin, +of whom he had often heard. She would know much of the plans of the +British, for her father was an intimate of Howe, and she herself said +to be betrothed to his chief of staff. This much Richard remembered +from Joscelyn's talk, and glad he was to recall the idle chatter +which at the time had bored him, since it kept him from more personal +conversation. It was of Joscelyn and himself that he had always wanted +to talk; but she had declared lightly that neither subject suited her, +for her own charms were too patent to need comment, and his were too few +to bear exposure, and had gone on to tell him of the Singletons, whom +she knew through Mary's letters. A plan that seemed like the gauzy web +of a fairy tale began to weave itself in Richard's mind as he bent to +his oar. + +The river was full of boats of every description, from barges like the +one he was in, to giddy cockleshells that seemed a dare to Providence +as they careened and dipped and darted in and out among the larger +craft, like monster dragonflies rather than conveyances for human beings. +And each one, great and small, was packed from prow to stern with a +laughing, singing crowd in festal array. As the gay fleet approached +the appointed landing-place, it passed in line between two men-of-war +strung with flags and sun-kissed garlands; and then, amid the music of +hautboys, the braying of trumpets, and the booming of guns, the company +landed and proceeded to the grounds laid out for the tourney which was +to be the chief event of the day. It was a dazzling picture upon which +the afternoon sun looked down. In the centre stretched the tourney ring, +around which beautiful women, gorgeously gowned, sat on mimic thrones to +watch their gallants--tricked out like knights of old--contend for the +honours. The multi-hued throng of spectators filled out the picture +which had for its foreground the river with its decorated craft, and for +its background the deep green of the forest, with the city's clustered +roofs to one side. Thousands of flags and garlands and streamers of +ribbon tossed in the wind, while the music, like the invisible incense +of pleasure, drifted like the sunshine everywhere. + +And the man for whom this was all planned sat on his daïs, the +embodiment of soldierly bearing, of courtesy and gratification; for this +splendid demonstration told unequivocally the appreciation in which the +army held him, notwithstanding the implied disapprobation of the home +government in so promptly accepting his resignation, tendered, no doubt, +in an hour of chagrin and hurt pride at the strictures passed upon him +at home. + +As soon as the barge was tied to its pier, Richard and Dunn mingled with +the throng, bent on seeing the sport. Richard longed to become a part of +the merry-making, but knew he must be content to be a spectator. He +looked about carefully for the black-eyed girl, and finally located her +through a remark overheard in the crowd:-- + +"Mistress Singleton occupies the place of honour on the right of the +master of ceremonies." + +And when he had pushed his way farther on, he saw her. So he had been +right; this was Ellen Singleton, the _fiancée_ of Grant, one of the most +accomplished officers under Howe. All the afternoon he lingered in her +vicinity, but unable to advance in any way the mad scheme he had in +mind. When darkness fell, the company repaired to the hall where the +tourney victor crowned his queen, and the dancers took their places to +spend the time until supper was announced. More than four hundred guests +sat down to that table, over which twelve hundred waxen candles shed +their radiance. As Richard leaned into one of the low windows, absorbed +in the scene, he noticed that Grant was whispering earnestly to his fair +companion, and that she looked serious, even alarmed. Before he had +finished wondering at the cause, some one touched him on the arm, and he +turned to find Dunn at his elbow. + +"Hist!" said the latter; "something is afoot. Couriers have come, and +General Howe spoke with them apart in the anteroom, and you should have +seen his face light up as he listened. It is, of course, something about +our troops. I heard La Fayette's name, but can get no particulars. Grant +is leaving the table; keep him in sight if possible while I try the +couriers." + +Mistress Singleton also had risen, and was leaving the room on Grant's +arm. Quitting the window hastily, Richard was at the door when they came +out of the hall. + +"I must speak with you," Grant said earnestly, in a low tone, to the +girl on his arm. The lawn was practically deserted, and the mimic +thrones erected for the tourney stood unoccupied in the blended light +of the moon and flambeaux. "The general's pavilion yonder is our best +place. There are some ladies and gentlemen on the far side, but at the +corner, there where the shadow falls, no one is sitting. Come." + +He led her across the open space, and Richard saw them take their places +in the dim light, the girl's white dress marking the spot even from +where he stood. He followed slowly, not knowing what next to do, for he +was too new in the _rôle_ of scout to willingly play at eavesdropping, +so he stood irresolutely near the pavilion watching the quiet couple at +one side and the bevy of laughing revellers at the other. Evidently +Mistress Singleton was much agitated, for her hand rose in frequent +gesture, and her voice was a trifle shrill. Presently two young men from +the other party came down the pavilion steps, and one of them dropped +his long military cloak in the shadow at the end of the step, saying he +would find it again after the dance. Then they passed on. Behind them +two soldiers came at quickstep, and Richard heard these words:-- + +"Grant's division has the orders. Quick work of the whole crew of +rebels." + +In the light of the flambeaux at the banquet-hall door Richard saw Dunn, +and hastened to join him. Putting together what they had gathered, they +made out that La Fayette had left Valley Forge with a body of troops, +intending to do whatever mischief he might, but that his movement had +been discovered, and Howe was planning to capture his whole force, and +Grant was to be detailed for the work. But what his course would be, +when he would set out, and what force would be with him were things yet +to learn. However, these were the very things La Fayette would want to +know. Dunn was waiting for Howe to leave the banquet-hall, so Richard +went back to his vigil near the pavilion. As he approached, Grant was +coming down the steps. + +"I shall not be gone twenty minutes. You are quite safe, for Mistress +Hamlin is just behind you, and I'll send one of the officers to sit with +you. Wait for me, for it may be our last meeting." + +Evidently the girl consented, for she kept her place while he sprang +down the steps and strode toward the lighted hall. + +The wild plan Richard had cherished all day was to speak with this girl +on equal terms. It might cost him his life, but a very dare-devil spirit +of adventure took possession of him. Now was the hour of which he had +dimly dreamed. He did not stop to think, but stooping into the shadow, +he snatched up the long cloak lying there and wrapped it about him, +turning up the collar jauntily. Then with his heart thumping against his +ribs, but with a smile on his face, he came to the side of the steps +nearest the girl and went boldly up into the pavilion. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A DARE-DEVIL DEED. + + "Thou fool, to thrust thy head into a noose." + --ANON. + + +The girl was leaning back with her hand over her eyes, evidently in deep +thought. + +"Ah, Captain," she said, as Richard paused, mistaking him for one of +Mistress Hamlin's party from across the pavilion, "you have come to bear +me company in Major Grant's absence?" + +"With your permission," answered Richard, gallantly, "and if Providence +is kind to me, General Howe will find much to say to him." + +"That is not likely, since the plans are all laid." + +"Yes; they were not long in the forming," he ventured cautiously. "The +division marches to-night." + +"So soon? I thought it was at ten in the morning?" + +"No doubt, then, I was misinformed; I was not at the meeting with the +couriers. If Major Grant said ten in the morning, then it must be so," +he hastily corrected himself; but he had learned one needed item. + +"I hoped it had been hurried up that it might the sooner be over." + +"This French marquis is inclined to give us trouble and himself airs." + +"Indeed, yes; but General Howe will have his revenge when, after this +fight to-morrow, he sends the young upstart back to England in chains." + +"That will he. It would be a glorious sight to see our gallant general +capture him with his own hands." + +"Oh, Major Grant will attend to that," she replied loftily. "General +Howe will do his share when he receives the prisoners at Chestnut Hill." + +So Chestnut Hill road was to be their route. Richard mentally recorded +it, while he said with incisive compliment, "Major Grant has the place +of honour." + +The pleasure in her voice when she answered told that the arrow had hit +its mark. "Major Grant could have circumvented the rebels with half the +five thousand men assigned to him." + +"He takes so many? 'Tis a large force for so skilful an officer, unless, +indeed, the enemy should be very strong." + +"Oh, I think they reach not half that number." + +With the hour of starting, the route and the force to be sent, Richard +now knew all he had hoped to learn. Grant might return any moment, so +that his peril was imminent; and yet the audacity of the adventure gave +it such spice that he lingered unwilling, as he was unable to frame an +excuse for withdrawing, filling in the pause with comments on the day's +festivities. + +"Your company does not go with the attacking party?" she said presently, +as though it were something they both knew positively. + +"No," he replied, catching the cue, but wondering which company was +supposedly his, and for whom had she taken him. + +"Major Grant told me you would go as the general's escort to receive and +guard the prisoners." + +"That sounds very tame after his own share in the work. Major Grant was +surely born under a lucky star, to be so favoured as he is by Mars and +the little blind god of love." There was a tone in his voice that she +could not fail to understand, and she laughed coyly in answer. He ought +to go, he knew; but still he lingered, and presently, urged on by the +spirit of recklessness that possessed him, he said: "You have relatives +in the south, Mistress Singleton?" + +"Yes. How did you happen to know?" She turned toward him so abruptly +that he was for a moment disconcerted. + +"Why, it is not a government secret," he said, laughing. + +"But you are not from the south; you are English. How should you know, +and why should you think of it just at this time?" + +She had scarcely looked at him before, being too busy watching the door +of the banquet-hall for Grant's return; but she had now lifted her eyes +directly to his face. Discovery seemed imminent. Cursing himself +inwardly, he hastily put up his hand to smother a pretended cough, +thankful that the light was behind him. But her scrutiny continued. + +"Captain Barry--" she said, with that in her voice that told him she was +not quite satisfied. + +"At your service--would that I could say forever," he said, putting all +the tenderness possible in his voice, and clicking his heels in a low +salute. Was everything over with him? Fool that he was to have tempted +fate by such an allusion. + +She pushed her chair back as though to rise, but at this moment there +was a stir about the lighted doorway across the sward, and Grant came +out. If he reached the pavilion before Richard found an excuse to retire +his neck would pay the forfeit of his daring. He was thinking hard and +fast. The girl sank back with a sigh of pleasure, her doubt of her +companion momentarily forgotten in the joy of her lover's return. + +"Your superior officer," she laughed softly and proudly. + +"Yes," he replied, with that audacity which, even in danger, could not +be quelled; "my superior in the ways of wooing as well as in the ways of +war, since against him I have no chance to win a smile from your lips. +You will have much to say to him in these last moments--and Mistress +Hamlin is going," he added with a quick throb of gratitude as the party +across the pavilion left their seats. + +"You need not leave us," she said with half-hearted politeness; but +already Grant was at the foot of the steps, and, with an audacious kiss +upon the hand she held out to him, Richard turned, and, with a beating +heart but no seeming haste, fell into the rear of the company across the +pavilion, descending the steps so close behind them as to seem to an +onlooker to be a member of the party. Every moment was precious to him, +and yet he loitered along the lighted sward as if eternity were his. As +he reached the corner of the building he heard Grant call:-- + +"Barry, Barry!" + +But he pretended not to hear, and sauntered on into the shadow. There +his pace quickened. No one stopped him, for his military cloak +completely disguised him, and presently he found himself near the +landing. In an empty boat-house he cast aside his borrowed garment, and +soon found Dunn near the barge at the appointed place of meeting. The +old scout listened to his adventure with amazement not unmixed with +anger. + +"You confounded dare-devil, you might have spoiled the whole plan," he +cried; yet acknowledging inwardly that he knew no one else who would +have dared to thrust his neck so far into a noose. He himself had not +been idle, and piecing together their bits of information, they made +out that La Fayette had crossed the Schuylkill and taken a post of +observation on a range of knobs known as Barren Hill, and that Howe's +plan was to capture him as a brilliant close to a campaign that had +been so much criticised. It became therefore instantly necessary to +warn the marquis of the plot. The details Richard had gotten from the +unsuspecting girl gave them all they needed to round out their plan; the +one thing now was to escape and carry the information to La Fayette. +This Richard found more difficult than he had imagined from their easy +entrance; for they had no friendly carter and market-maid beside them, +and despite the festivity, the pickets were keeping strict watch at the +outposts. Finally, by creeping on their hands for half a mile behind a +hedge, they managed to evade detection; but the sun was already high +over the eastern horizon before they gained the banks of the Schuylkill. +Keeping close to the stream and avoiding the open road, they finally +came upon a row-boat hidden among the reeds in a cove. This, without +ceremony, they appropriated, and were soon making more rapid progress on +their journey. For a long while nothing but the oars was heard; then +suddenly Richard laughed aloud. + +"Suppose that young gallant had come back for his cloak while I was +talking with the girl?" + +"You'd have had to content yourself with the angels--or the +imps--hereafter," growled Dunn. + +But Richard laughed again. "Well, I'm glad he stayed away, for 'tis +pleasanter entertaining beautiful girls. It will be great sport to say +in my home letters that I, a private in the Continental army, was one of +Mistress Singleton's attendants at General Howe's _fête_! Mary will get +it all from Joscelyn and write it back to the lady, and she will then +know who the supposed Barry was. Who is Barry, anyhow?" + +"One of the finest of the young officers that wears the red--a soldier +and a lady-killer, so they tell me." Long afterward Richard recalled the +words. + +Presently Dunn, who had been looking intently ahead, said: "This is the +place; yonder are the two dead oaks by which I always locate Matson's +ford. We will tie up here and cut across country to the hills, trusting +to luck to find the way to La Fayette. Grant's guides, knowing their +road, give him the advantage, for I have never been sent to this part of +the country, so am ignorant of my bearings. It must be near to noon, and +the British column has long ago started." + +"Will they guard this ford, do you think?" + +"Hardly, for it is nearer to the English than to us. La Fayette will +retreat as he came, by the one higher up." + +"Will he fight first?" + +"He may be forced to; otherwise, no. It would be folly to deliberately +engage the superior force sent against him. If we only knew the direct +path!" + +"If we only had some breakfast," sighed Richard. + +They wanted to ask their way at the scattered cottages and of the men at +work in the fields, but they knew not friends from foes. Once they lay +for an hour under a plum thicket, not venturing to move, while two men, +who had met in the road, stopped their horses for a talk. The afternoon +was beginning to wane when they came to a secluded farmhouse where an +old woman gave them something to eat, and, thinking they were Tories, +warned them that a body of Americans was said to be camped three miles +to the southwest. They thanked her, but once out of her sight they +turned joyfully in the forbidden direction, and in less than an hour +were called to halt by two men with bayonets. + +"Take us to your general, and take us quick," said Dunn. + +La Fayette recognized Dunn, instantly, and received his news with much +emotion, for he had hoped to strike a telling blow on some of the +outposts, and maybe cut off a foraging party, whose members would be +valuable prisoners for exchange. Now there was nothing but to turn back. +But even as they were making ready for a retreat over the road by which +they had come, his scouts came flying through the lines with the news +that Grant was close upon them in the rear, having made a circuitous +march in order to get between them and their camp at Valley Forge. La +Fayette set his teeth as he said:-- + +"Then 'tis fight, though that means death to every brave man here." + +But Dunn told of Matson's ford still unguarded, and the commander was +quick to seize the one chance left to save his men, and before midnight +the little band was safely over the river, with their faces toward +Valley Forge. There they were received with cheers by their comrades, +who, having heard some wild rumours brought by two countrymen from +beyond the Schuylkill, had feared the worst for them. + +That night, long after Richard was sleeping the sleep of healthy but +exhausted youth, Dunn sat in the officers' quarters and told how, with +a military rain-coat over his workman's blouse, Richard Clevering had +played the gallant to the beauty of Philadelphia and the _fiancée_ of +Howe's chief of staff. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A MAID'S DREAM AND THE DEVIL'S WOOING. + + "A pleasing land of drowsyhead it was: + Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye; + And of gay castles in the clouds that pass, + Forever flushing round a summer sky." + --THOMPSON. + + +It was June-time in the beautiful hill country along the Eno. Down the +long road that sloped to the bridge from the west two horses took their +leisurely way, while their riders talked or were silent at will. Below +them, in the curve of the river, lay the town in a green summer dream; +the roadside was lined with nodding blossom heads, and the thickets were +a-rustle now and then with the subdued whir of wings, for the song +season of their feathered tenants was done, and sparrow and wren and +bluebird were busy with family cares. + +"Joscelyn, you are not listening to a word I am saying," complained Mary +Singleton, petulantly, after repeating a question a second time and +getting no answer. + +"I beg your pardon, Mary; I believe you are right." + +"Of what were you thinking so intently?" + +"I was not thinking. It is too delicious this afternoon to do anything, +even think. I am just resting my mind." + +"Well, I find you very dull under such a process." + +"'A friend should bear a friend's infirmity,'" quoted Joscelyn. + +"Dulness is not an infirmity; it is a crime." + +"Then methinks the world must be full of criminals." + +"And those who are so intentionally and voluntarily should be punished +like other wrong-doers." + +Joscelyn laughed. "Well, pass sentence upon me, most wise judge, if you +think I was not born that way and that the sin is intentional. Am I to +hang for it, or will you be merciful and make it a prison offence?" + +"Oh, you'll get the hanging soon enough if you go on wearing that red +bodice and stringing pictures of King George on your balcony!" + +"So mother says. And hanging is not a becoming way to die; one has no +opportunity to say that 'prunes, prisms, and preserves' sentence that +leaves the mouth in such a charming pucker. Well, since my lips are to +be awry, I trust they will give me time to put on my new silver-buckled +shoes. It would be a comfort to know that at least my feet looked their +best." + +"Joscelyn! You are perfectly horrid." + +"You mean I would be without the 'prunes and prisms' expression." + +Mary struck her horse and rode forward a few yards, but presently fell +back again beside her companion. + +"What I asked you just now related to Eustace. Do you think--" + +"I said I was not thinking." + +"Well, begin at once. Is there any danger that Eustace will really try +to marry Betty Clevering?" + +"Danger is a wrong word, Mary. If Eustace is ever so fortunate as to win +Betty, he should spend the rest of his life in thanksgiving. She is as +true as steel, and better tempered than either of us." + +"I am not disparaging Betty, and I have often wished our parents were +not at outs, so that she and I might be better friends; we only meet at +your house or places of entertainment. But, Joscelyn, you know--you must +know what we all have hoped for you and Eustace." + +Joscelyn turned her eyes fully and calmly upon her companion. "Yes, I +know. I should have been even duller than you pronounced me just now not +to see through your plan. Diplomacy is not your _forte_." + +"You knew I--we all wanted you to marry--" + +"Eustace? Yes; he and I have often laughed over it to each other. And +now that you have mentioned it, I want to tell you frankly that there is +not the faintest possibility of such a thing. As a friend Eustace is +charming; but as a husband--" + +"Don't! Your mouth looks as if you had bitten a green persimmon." + +"Well, I think with Eustace as a husband life would be all green +persimmons, without any prunes or prisms to break the monotony. It would +be quite as bad on him as on me; you would make us both utterly +miserable." + +"I cannot believe it. I know Eustace looks at Betty with the utmost +admiration, and manages often to meet her; but 'tis much the same way +with every pretty girl,--he must be saying sweet things to each of them. +But in his heart I feel sure he prefers you above all the rest, only +your indifference holds him aloof. Here is a letter I had this morning, +in which he devotes a whole page to happy imaginings about a soldier's +welcome home when the war shall be over. He grows really poetic about +shy eyes and the joy of holding a white hand in his. Whom can he mean +but you?" + +"Betty has shy eyes, and Janet has the whitest hands I know anywhere. As +you said, Eustace has a roving fancy." + +Mary sighed. "I intended to read the letter to you, but here we are at +the bridge, and we will now be meeting so many people." + +"Give it to me; I will read it at home," Joscelyn said, stretching out +her hand with sudden interest. "It would be preposterous to waste all +that sentiment on a mere sister; it takes an outsider to appreciate +touches like that. Oh, it shall be read with all the accessories of a +grand passion--sighs, smiles, blushes, and suchlike incense." She +laughed as she tucked the letter into her belt, but she did not say who +the reader would be, and Mary took much comfort in the thought that she +would appropriate the sentimental parts to herself. Whose eyes were +softer than Joscelyn's, whose hands whiter or sweeter to hold? + +And so, each thinking her own thoughts, they crossed the wooden bridge +that spanned the river, the horses' hoofs making a rhythmic clatter on +the boards. In the street beyond they came upon Mistress Strudwick +carrying an uncovered basket heaped high with hanks of yarn. The road +was a slight ascent, and the corpulent dame was puffing sorely. + +"Why, Mistress Strudwick, you with such a load as that? What does this +mean?" cried Joscelyn. + +"It means that that little darky of mine has run away again, and that +there'll be one less limb on my peach tree to-night when he comes back." + +"Will you not take my horse and ride?" + +"It's been thirty years since I was in a saddle, and I'm not honing to +wear a shroud." + +Joscelyn leaned down, and catching the handle, lifted the basket to the +pommel of her saddle. "I will not see you make yourself ill in this way. +Were there no other servants to spare you this exertion? You are all out +of breath." + +A curious light came into the old lady's eyes as she saw the girl +steady the basket in front of her; but she checked the words that had +sprung to her lips and trudged slowly along, the riders holding back +their horses to keep beside her. + +"What have you two been plotting together this afternoon?" she asked, +looking from one to the other with the pleasure age often finds in +contemplating youth and beauty. + +"Have we the appearance of dark conspirators?" laughed Joscelyn. + +"Nay, you both look sweet and innocent enough; but somehow I'm always +giving that Bible verse a twist and reading it: 'Where two or three +Tories are gathered together, there is the devil in their midst.'" + +"You should not twist your Scripture, Mistress Strudwick." + +"Mayhap not, but sometimes it makes an uncommon good hit." + +"Well, you were wrong to-day. Two Loyalists have been congregated +together; but Cupid, rather than the devil, has been our +co-conspirator." + +"So! It was sweethearts you were discussing? Tell me now, was it your +match or Mary's you were arranging? There is nothing pleases me more +than a wedding." + +"I thought you took no interest in matters concerning King George's +subjects." + +"King George has naught to do with the wooing of our maids; and love is +love, whether it be Redcoat or Continental," replied the old matchmaker. + +Joscelyn laughed. "I verily believe you'd like to know the courtship of +Satan himself, provided he had one." + +"Of course he had, my dear, and a most engaging lover he made, I'll be +bound, seeing he is so apt a beguiler in other things. Oh, yes, +everybody knows that Satan is a married man." + +"Where got he his wife?" + +The old lady threw up her hands with quizzical scouting: "'Tis not set +down in the books, but it would have been just like some soft-hearted +creature to creep after him when he was exiled from heaven. And she is +not the only woman who has followed a man to perdition, either,--more's +the pity!" + +"You are seeing things awry to-day, Mistress Strudwick." + +"Mayhap, mayhap," puffed the old lady. "I haven't much of a prophet's +eye, but I see things of to-day plain enough, and I know that you are a +pair of uncommon pretty girls, and are like to have many a beau on your +string; but when marrying time comes, take an old woman's advice and +choose a man who is hale and hearty, for as sure as you are born, love +flies out of the heart when indigestion enters the stomach." + +"Truly, Mistress Strudwick, you are better than 'Poor Richard's +Almanac,'" laughed Joscelyn. + +"Oh, my dear, I've seen it tried. Courtship is the finest thing in the +world, but after the wedding love is largely a question of good cooking; +and although you two are rank Tories, and so deserve any punishment the +fates might send you, still I'd be glad, because of your comely looks, +to see you escape your deserts. But here we are at my gate. I wonder +what the town will say, Joscelyn, when they hear that you, Tory that you +call yourself, brought a basket of wool for Continental socks from +Amanda Bryce's to my door." + +The girl's face flamed with a sudden heat. Then she said with that +beautiful courtesy that older folks found so charming:-- + +"It was not for the Continentals, but for my good neighbour that I +brought the basket. I am not minded to see her kill herself in so bad a +cause; rather do I want her to live and repent of her mistakes, that she +herself may not be the first to solve that riddle of the devil's +wooing." And kissing their hands jauntily to the old woman, the two +girls rode away into the purple twilight. + +"Bless her bonny face and quick tongue!" the old woman cried, waving her +hand after them. + +That night Mary cried herself to sleep over her shattered hopes, and in +the privacy of a white-curtained room, Joscelyn read aloud the letter to +her whom Eustace had in mind when he thought of the welcome of shy eyes +and clinging white hands. And Betty fell asleep with the letter under +her cheek, and all the soft June night was filled with flitting cadences +and starry dreams. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ON MONMOUTH PLAIN. + + "Wut's words to them whose faith and truth + On war's red techstone rang true metal; + Who ventured life and love and youth + For the great prize o' death in battle?" + --LOWELL. + + +And it was June-time, too, in the far-off New Jersey country across +which an army, glittering with scarlet and steel, took its way. Slowly +it moved; for with it went a wagon-train conveying many of the refugees +from the evacuated city of Philadelphia, people who could not crowd into +the transports that went by sea, but who feared to meet the incoming +Americans and so sought safety in New York. Children and delicately +reared women slept in army tents, or sat in their coaches all day, +listening to the crunching of the wheels in the sand and looking back +through the slowly increasing distance to the horizon, behind which lay +the deserted city where pleasure had held high carnival during the +months just passed. And with them they carried everything that could +be packed into coach or hidden in wagon; and though they went with the +semblance of victory and almost of pleasure-seekers, it was a sad +procession; for who could say when or upon what terms they might ever +see their old homes again? Often Clinton looked back impatiently at the +crawling train, for he had not liked to be so hampered, and yet had been +quite as unwilling to abandon these people to the vengeance they +imagined awaited them. + +Almost before they had lost sight of the spires of the city, Arnold, +with braying bugles, marched his column down the echoing streets, and +set up the standard of the republic where late the British lion had +wooed the wind. + +For nearly a week that long train crept on its way, held back by its own +cumbersome weight and the varying roughness of the route. And ever on +its flank hung the lean but resolute army of the Continentals, waiting +and longing for a chance to strike. All the suffering of Valley Forge +was to be avenged. Every wrong they had sustained was whispering at +their ears and tugging at their memories; every dead comrade seemed +calling out to them for retribution through the sunshine or the midnight +silence. And it should be theirs; the utmost atonement that arms, +nerved with patriotic and personal vengeance, could achieve should be +claimed--if only the hour would come. But still that long train moved +onward, and there came no word to fight. + +Then, from out the blue sky-reaches of that June-time dawned Monmouth +day. + +"We are to fight at last!" + +And every man in that thin, dishevelled line felt his heart throb with +the exultation of action long desired and long delayed. Every man but +one, and he the one on whom rested the responsibility of the attack. + +"Anybody but Lee!" Dunn had said with a groan, when he heard who was to +lead the attacking column. And Richard, having gone with him to report +some scouting work to the council of officers, and recalling Lee's +fierce opposition to any plan for battle, groaned too. + +"His envy of General Washington and his imprisonment among the British +have made him half Tory. He is the senior officer, it is true,--but if +he had only persisted in his first refusal to lead the division and left +it to La Fayette!" + +But in Richard's thoughts there was no time for doubt when, in the +brilliant light of the next morning, he swept with his column over the +brow of the low hill and on down the narrow valley toward the scarlet +line that marked Clinton's post. It was his first real battle; for +compared with this the engagements under Sumter had been but skirmishes, +and the frenzy of the fight was upon him. "For home and Joscelyn!" had +been the war-cry he had set himself, thinking to carry into the hottest +of every fray the memory-presence of the girl whom he loved. But when +the test came she was forgotten, and only the menace ahead, the death he +was rushing to meet, was remembered. Every musket along that steadfast +scarlet line seemed levelled at him alone, and into his heart there +flashed a momentary wish to turn and seek shelter in flight from the +leaping fire of the deadly muzzles. But in the quick onset, the shouts, +the growl of the guns, and the challenging call of the bugles, this fear +was conquered; and in its place a wild, unreasoning delirium seized upon +him, and the one thought of which he was conscious was to kill, kill, +kill! + +To those blue-clad men, burning with the memory of their sufferings +and their wrongs, it seemed as if nothing could stand before them; but +British regulars were trained to meet such an advance, and the red line +was as a wall of adamant. Between the attack and the repulse there +seemed to Richard scarcely breathing-time; for they were repulsed, and, +fighting still, were driven back through that narrow defile, expecting +every moment that Lee would send them succour so that they might again +take up the offensive. But instead of reënforcements, there came that +strange order to retreat. Retreat? Had there not been some mistake? The +officers looked at each other incredulously, suspiciously, half-inclined +to disobey; for the battle was hardly yet begun, and this first check +was not a rout. Then full of rage and doubt they repeated to their +subordinates the orders of the couriers, and the regiment fell back +sullenly, clashing against other regiments who had not struck a blow, +but to whom had also come that mysterious order to fall back. What was +the matter, what was this paralyzing hand that had been laid upon them! +No one could tell; but men retreated looking longingly over their +shoulders at the enemy. Confusion grew almost into panic as those still +further away saw the retiring columns pursued by the Redcoats, and knew +not the cause nor yet what dire disaster had befallen. + +Then suddenly upon the field there came the Achilles of the cause, and +the rout was turned. + +"The general--thank God!" the officers sobbed; and the men cheered as +those who are drowning cheer a saving sail. + +Richard was too far off to hear the fierce protest and rebuke heaped +upon Lee, but in a few minutes an aide galloped up to his regiment and +cried out to Wayne:-- + +"General Washington says you and Ramsey are to hold the enemy in check +here upon this hillside until he can re-form the rear." + +And the blue line swung about and steadied, and met the English face +to face; and Richard Clevering's battle-cry rang full and clear amid +the yells that well-nigh drowned the roar of the musketry. About that +sun-scorched knoll there fell the fiercest part of the fray. The palsy +of hesitation was gone, and desperation had made the men invincible. +Again and again that red wave from the open space before surged against +them, broke and recoiled and gathered and came again like some strong +billow of the ocean that rolls itself against a headland--fierce, blind, +futile. + +Then came the climax of the splendid tragedy. Upon Wayne's right was a +Continental battery from which a great gun sent its deadly challenge to +the foe. Again and again its whirring missives tore great gaps in the +red ranks, until Clinton gave orders to silence it at any cost. + +Careless of danger, unconscious of his impending doom, the gunner loaded +his piece anew, and lifted the rammer to send the charge home. Behind +him stood his wife, who had left the safety of the wagons to bring him +water from a wayside ravine, for the sky was like copper and the dust +blew in suffocating gusts. She saw what he did not, the shifting of the +enemy's gun in the plain below, the turning of its deadly muzzle full +upon the knoll where they stood. But there was no time for so much as a +warning cry; for instantly the flame leaped out, the ground shook with a +strong reverberation, and a groan went up from the Continentals as they +saw the dust fly from the knoll and their own brave gunner throw up his +arms, swing sidewise, and then fall dead. For one awful moment no one +moved; then two men from the line sprang forward to take his place, but +some one was before them--some one with the face of an avenging Nemesis. +There was the flutter of a skirt, a woman's long black hair streamed +backward on the wind, and Moll Pitcher stood in her husband's place +like an aroused lioness of the jungle. Fury gave her the strength of a +Boadicea, and the rammer, still warm from the dead man's grasp, went +home with a single thrust; the flame flashed over the pan, and with a +roar that shook the heavens, the big gun sent back into the red ranks +the death it had witnessed. When the smoke had lifted, the breathless +men saw the woman, one hand still upon the great black gun, stoop down +and kiss the dead husband she had avenged; and all down the Continental +line eyes were wet and throats were cracked and dry with cheering. + +All the rest of that fateful day, with the eyes of her dead love +watching her staringly, Moll Pitcher held her place beside the gun, +solacing her breaking heart with its flash and roar, holding back her +woman's briny tears until the silent vigils of the night, when her +mission was accomplished. + +And in the meantime, in the rear, the voice of a single man, with its +trumpet tones of inspiration, was bringing order out of chaos. Regiments +were re-formed, scattered companies gathered, batteries turned, and +defeat robbed of its surety. Men, who a moment before had been +panic-stricken with the confused marching and counter-marching of the +day, looked into the face of the commander and felt their hearts beat +with an answering calm. Confidence was restored, and the routed corps +were turned into attacking columns. And so when that red wave broke for +the last time against Wayne's and Ramsey's divisions on the hillside, +reënforcements were close at hand. + +But they came too late for some of the brave men who had saved liberty +and honour that day, for the red wave, receding, took as its flotsam all +the men in buff and blue who, in their enthusiasm and temerity, had +advanced too far beyond the ranks. + +And among these prisoners went he whose battle-cry had been, "For home +and Joscelyn!" + +[Illustration: "RICHARD WAS DRAGGED ALONG WITH THE BRITISH UNTIL THEIR +POSITION WAS REGAINED."] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +IN CLINTON'S TENTS. + + "Give me liberty or give me death." + --PATRICK HENRY. + + +Hatless, furious, half-blind from dust and the trickling of the blood +from the wound in the head that had dazed and rendered him powerless +to escape back to his own ranks after meeting the enemy, Richard was +dragged along with the British until their position was regained, and +thence despatched to the rear, where the other prisoners were held under +guard. There he lay on the ground for an hour, listening and longing +feverishly for the sound of Washington's assaulting guns; but the +twilight deepened into starlit dusk, and no rescue came. Then finally he +knew by the preparations about him that no further attack was expected, +but that a retreat was intended. Clinton dared not await the return of +daylight and the fight it would bring; and so in the still hours of the +night, while the Continentals slept the sleep of utter exhaustion after +the marches and counter-marches and combats of that sultry day, he drew +his force away, leaving his dead unburied upon the field, and his sorely +wounded in the deserted camp. To the very last moment, Richard had +listened for an attack, hoping that Washington had waited to plan a +surprise; but over in the direction of the American camp all was silent. +During the last half of that awful night Richard marched with the squad +of prisoners along the road that led to the sea. The wound in his head, +although but slight, made him dizzy with its throbbing, and his heart +called out fiercely for freedom and Joscelyn. He had asked not to be put +into the wagon with the wounded, protesting he was more able to walk +than some others; but in reality he was meditating an escape, and knew +it would be more easily accomplished from the ranks than from a guarded +wagon. Eagerly he watched for a chance. The bonds that at first held the +prisoners together had been removed to expedite the retreat,--there was +no time that night to spare for any kind of lagging,--so that he was +free to go alone if the opportunity came. Always his gaze was ahead, +every shadow across the road held a possibility, every dark hollow was +entered with hope. But the guard, as though divining his intention, +closed in compactly at these points and made egress impossible; and so +he plodded on until, with the returning daylight, they found him reeling +like a drunken man with fatigue and loss of blood, and, putting him into +an ambulance, carried him on toward Sandy Hook. From utter weariness and +hopelessness he fell asleep in the jolting vehicle, and only waked at +the prod of a bayonet to find the sun well past the zenith. + +"Get up with you and let somebody take your place while you foot it a +bit," a rough voice said; and Richard sprang from the vehicle and helped +little Billy Bryce, of his own town, into his place, exclaiming +vehemently against his own selfish slumbering. + +"Nay, nay," said the lad, "I am not wounded, more's the shame to me for +being taken! Besides, I have had a long rest under the wagon here, for +we halted before noon. I begged the guard not to waken you, but I put +your rations aside. Here--you must be near to starvation." + +Richard caught eagerly at the pork and ship biscuit which the lad held +out; it seemed ages since he had tasted food. + +"And you'll be better with your head washed," the guard said, not +unkindly, pointing to a little stream that trickled by the roadside; and +Richard was quick to obey. + +In a little while they were in motion again, this time more leisurely, +and once more thoughts of escape filled Richard with a restless energy. +The country was more broken here; to hide would be easier, and he waited +impatiently for the coming of the dark, determined at all hazards to +make the attempt--another sunset might put him behind prison bars. But +he was doomed to disappointment, for they were not to march all night, +but with the early stars pitched their tents upon a flat stretch of +country that opened to the east. + +Worn out by the long marches and the cloying sand through which they had +toiled, the army soon slept profoundly. Tied together for greater +security, the prisoners lay like so many sardines in their tent, before +which trod a sentinel. At first there was much whispering among them as +to their probable fate, and not a few solemn farewells to home and dear +ones, with now and then a happy reminiscence such as often comes with +the acme of irony to doomed men. One recalled his courting days, another +the swimming pool under the willows; and yet another his baby's laugh. +And set lips relaxed into smiling until suddenly the memory stabbed with +a new pain. + +"I shall never see my mother any more, for I know I shall die in that +dreadful prison; but you'll be good to me, won't you, Richard?" groaned +little Billy Bryce, who lay next to Richard with his right hand tied to +the latter's left. + +And Richard comforted him as best he could, and by and by the lad slept +with the others. + +"I hope they will always let me stay with you," had been his last sleepy +whisper. For among the bigger boys Richard had been his hero and +protector, and no service was ever too great for him to undertake for +his idol. And Richard had petted and yet imposed upon him in the way +peculiar to all boys of a larger growth, when a small one asks nothing +better than to obey. It was really to be with Richard as much as to +share in the war that he had stolen away from his mother and followed +the Hillsboro' men to the field. + +At last the tent was quiet save for the deep breathing of the tired men, +but Richard could not close his eyes; he meant to get away. After the +watch was changed toward midnight was the time he had set as the most +favourable for his plan. All being then found secure, the new guard +would be over-sure--and he, like the rest, was worn out with the trials +of the past two days. Certainly that was the best time; a confident, +tired sentinel ought not to be hard to elude. And he lay still, softly +gnawing the rope that bound him to Billy. As he was at the end of the +line, his right arm was free, and so his fingers aided his teeth to pick +the threads apart. Thus an hour went by, and then the lad beside him +stirred. + +"What are you doing, Richard?" he whispered; then added quickly, as his +arm felt the loosened cord: "Why, you have bitten the rope in two. You +are going to escape? Take me with you, in mercy's name, Richard; do not +leave me to die in the prison yonder! Richard, let me go, too." + +"H--sh!" whispered Richard, sternly, for the boy's excitement was like +to arouse the whole body of prisoners, perchance even alarm the guard +outside. "Be still, Billy! I cannot take you--two could never pass the +guard. I am sorry; I--I--wish you had not waked." + +But the lad, whose arm was now free because of the final severance of +the cord, caught his hand as with a drowning grip: "You must take +me--you must!" + +"I cannot." + +"Oh, I will not go on to rot in that vile prison; I am so young, and my +mother has nobody but me! Don't you know how I have always loved you, +Richard? You never asked me to do anything that I was not ready to try +it. I'd never leave you here if I were going to freedom--never!" + +To take him lessened his chances more than half, and Heaven knew how +slender they were already; but the struggle in Richard's mind lasted +only a moment. Then he leaned over the boy's body and began carefully +and quietly to untie the cord that bound him to the next sleeper, +stopping now and then when the man made any movement. The lad, guessing +his consent by his action, spoke no word, but lifted his head and kissed +him on the cheek; and Richard felt the tears that coursed down the +smooth face. + +"You confounded young idiot!" he whispered, but his voice was very +tender, and presently, when the knot was loosed, he drew the lad close +to him and told his plan. + +"God grant we may both of us get safely away; but if only one of us +succeeds, and that should be I, then will I carry your love to your +mother." + +"And if I escape, I shall do the like for you." + +"Ay, laddie, and more; for you shall say to Joscelyn Cheshire that even +behind prison bars I am her lover; and if death comes, her face, or the +blessed memory of it, will outshine those of the angels of Paradise." + +"You love her so, then?" + +"As a man loves sunshine and warmth and beauty and life." + +"And she loves you?" + +"No, lad, she loves me not." + +And the boy left the silence that followed unbroken, knowing the other +wished it so. + +A while later they heard the call of the watch farther down the beat, +and presently the sound of steps outside and the welcome "All's well!" +of the relieved sentry. Turning upon their backs with the ravelled ends +of the cords hidden close between them, they seemed asleep like their +comrades when the watchman cast the light of his lantern through the +flapping canvas door. + +"Too d--n tired to give any trouble," the out-going sentinel said as he +glanced along the line. "You will have an easy time to-night." Then he +went away, and the two watchers in the tent waited for what seemed an +eternity. Finally Richard lifted the edge of the tent and looked out. +The sentinel leaned against a small tree in front of the tent, his gun +held slack in his fingers. He was very tired, even to drowsiness. + +"Now," Richard whispered, and crawled stealthily from under the rear of +the tent, followed by Billy. Keeping in the shadow of the tents, they +moved on hands and knees across the ground toward a clump of bushes that +promised a hiding-place for reconnoitring. Only twenty yards the stretch +was, but to those two crawling figures it seemed a mile. Every weed that +swayed against its fellow had in it the sound of a rushing wind, and +every twig that broke under hands or knees seemed like the crack of a +rifle. To their overwrought senses each breath the other drew was as the +sough of a tempest, and they scarcely understood how the sentry could +not hear. So slowly they had to move that it took fully twenty minutes +to cover those few yards. Then, while Billy lay still in the shadow, +Richard raised himself stealthily and looked about. They could have +happened upon no worse place for their attempt. It was near the end of a +short beat up and down which two sentinels trod, passing each other near +this end, so that only a few moments intervened when one or the other +did not command the whole beat with his eye and gun. Behind and on +either side stretched the tents of the sleeping army, set thick with +picket posts and guards. On the other side of the narrow road was a rock +large enough to conceal a man, and beyond this was a field of high +grass, to gain which meant freedom. Not a detail of the starlit scene +escaped Richard. To go backward or to the right or left was to fall into +repeated dangers; this was the way since they were here. If only the +sentries passed each other in the middle of the beat, that there might +be more time when this crossing in front of them would be a little +longer unguarded! + +He stood irresolute, trying to think accurately; but a noise behind left +him no time for further hesitation. Something was amiss yonder in the +rear,--perhaps their flight had been discovered. Billy, too, had heard, +and rising, stood close behind; softly he put out his hand and drew the +lad before him. One agile spring across the road, a moment's hiding in +the shadow of the rock yonder, then the tall grass and liberty; but +between the passing of the sentinels was time for only one man to cross +to safety--only one man could hide yonder behind that rock! The little +lad saw it, and his lips twitched. + +"Good-by," he whispered, trying to move back. + +But Richard held him fast. In his hands was not the semblance of a +tremor, but his face was ashen even in the dim light. + +"Remember Joscelyn," he breathed, rather than spoke; then, as the guard +passed, he gave the lad a push. "Go." + +With a stealthy, gliding step Billy was across the road and behind the +rock as Richard dropped to the ground and the guard turned round. +Evidently the man's trained ear had detected some sound, for he paused +and brought his gun to his shoulder. Richard's eyes were on the rock +over the road; if Billy moved now, they were both lost; but all was +still, and the guard once more took up his march. When he was gone a few +paces Richard saw a dark object crawl from the shadow of the rock, and a +moment later the tall grass shook as if a gentle zephyr had smitten it +in just one favoured spot; then all was silent and moveless save the +crickets and the night birds flapping past in the gloom. + +Billy had left the way clear, and when the next sentinel should be at +the right place Richard meant to follow, and so he drew a deep breath +and waited. But fortune was against him, for before the man was quite +opposite to him another guard came out into the road from the camp +behind and accosted him. As they approached, Richard heard in part what +they said:-- + +"--couriers just arrived--enemy moving on the Brunswick road, supposed +intention to out-flank us. All outside pickets are being doubled to +prevent desertion, and I am sent to mount guard here at the end of your +beat. Two Hessians were caught in the act of deserting just now." + +"I heard some kind of commotion." + +"Yes; 'twill go pretty hard with them to-morrow. When we first took them +we thought they were a couple of those prisoners who were trying to +escape, and the air fairly smelt of the brimstone we were ready to give +them. The light came just in time to save them. Those Hessians are a +d--d set of hirelings." + +He stooped to adjust his shoe-latchet, and when the regular guard passed +on to the end of his beat Richard dropped down quickly, but with an +inward groan, for with that man stationed there at the end of the track +escape was impossible. There had been but one chance, just one, and he +had given that away. He would not regret it, but--he should never see +Joscelyn again. It was all he could do to keep back the fierce cry that +gathered in his throat. For a long time he crouched there, hoping in the +face of despair; but the dawn was coming--if he was found thus, his +punishment would be made the greater. There was no use in courting +torture. And so, when a passing cloud obscured the stars, he crawled +back across the clearing, and crept at last under the edge of the tent. + +"Here, Peter," he whispered in the ear of the next man, "Billy has +escaped. I failed; but 'tis no use to tempt the devil to double my +stripes. Wake up and tie this cord about my left arm that it may seem as +if he gnawed it himself until it was loose." + +And in the morning the guard found him asleep with a bit of ravelled +rope about his arm. Search and inquiry failed to reveal anything of +Billy's escape or his whereabouts, and the incident, so far as the +prisoners were concerned, ended in the volley of oaths and threats +delivered to them second-hand by the guards from the officer of the +day. They were not pleasant words to hear; but Richard only drew a deep +breath, for he had feared Billy would linger waiting for him and so be +taken. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +FROM CAMP TO PRISON. + + "My day is closed! the gloom of night is come! + A hopeless darkness settles o'er my fate." + --JOANNA BAILLIE. + + +Many times during the day's march did Richard turn his eyes wistfully +toward the blue hills to the south, and wonder beyond which of them +Billy was speeding to rejoin his command. The thought had in it such an +element of bitterness that finally he thrust it from him lest it wax +into selfish envy. + +Finally they reached their goal, and the vast body of men and animals +halted beside the bay whose waters sparkled under the blue and gold +tones of the summer sky. In the offing lay the English fleet, which by +the happiest chance for Clinton had arrived inside the Hook in time to +convey his exhausted army to New York. + +The quick, salt wind whipping Richard in the face, gave him a sense of +vigour and reserve strength, which was speedily nipped by a chilling +realization of his hopeless captivity. Mechanically he ate and drank +when the guard bade him; for the prison bars were now inevitable, and he +would lie rusting his heart and manhood out while the fight went by +outside. In an agony of despair he cursed the impetuous daring that had +led him so far in advance of his column as to deliver him into the hands +of the enemy. And he cursed both the moonlight that had flooded the road +the first night of their march, and the guard whose lynx eyes seemed +ever upon him; and finally he cursed himself more sorely than aught +else, because he had not followed Billy at all hazards and let a bullet +end the problem forever. + +But life is sweet to youth, and hope finds ever a place in the heart +that is full of an unsatisfied love; and so by the time he had finished +his spare meal he was ready to look at the future with more calmness. +Outside in the free world Joscelyn would wait for him, and prison doors +must sometimes yawn. The soldier who brought him his supper stayed for a +few minutes to talk. He had a frank, friendly face that Richard liked. + +"So we gave your sly general the slip after all, and held to our march +as we at first intended." + +"Did Clinton originally and intentionally propose to make a night march +at almost double-quick over such roads as we have traversed? D--d queer +military tactics." + +The fellow grinned. "Oh, a little change of programme mattered not, so +we lost not a single wagon of our train. See, they are yonder, as safe +as a ship in port." + +"Mayhap; but you saved your skins whole by stealing away from Monmouth +like a thief in the night, and, leaving the foe you pretended to +despise, camped on the battle-ground." + +"Oh, we begrudge not you fellows a camping ground--we are not that +greedy." + +"No; you wanted them, in fact, to have all the ground in the vicinity, +even if you had to be so unselfish as to march all night to leave it to +them." + +"Come, your tongue's too sharp," the fellow said irritably. + +"Sharper than your general's wits, if he took that march out of anything +but necessity. He has saved his baggage train, but, mark you, he has +lost his cause. Our victory at Monmouth will hearten up the doubtful and +send them flocking to our camp." + +The man laughed satirically at the word "victory," and then said:-- + +"Well, at all events, your part of the flocking is done for good. 'Tis +not likely you'll see the outside of a prison for more months than you +are years old--if by any chance your general hangs on that long, which +is not likely." + +Richard shivered at mention of a prison, but shrugged his shoulders with +outward calm. "A man must bear the fortunes of war, if he be a true +soldier. Prison life is harder than fighting, but some must carry the +heavy end of the burden, and 'tis not for me to bemoan if it falls to +me. Know you in which of your pest holes we are like to be confined?" + +The soldier looked into the clear, steady eyes for a moment before +replying: "You're a rum chap to take your medicine without a whine. I +like your sort, and I hope, when this cursed war is done, you'll be +found alive; but it isn't likely, for methinks you are to go to the old +Sugar House in New York. 'Tis as full as an ant-hill now, but they'll +shove the poor devils a bit closer together and squeeze you in. You'll +have plenty of time, but not much room, to meditate on your evil doings +against King George. Still, I hope you'll live through it." + +He picked up the empty can out of which the prisoner had been drinking, +and moved on. Richard, who had been sitting upright during the +conversation, sank back upon the ground and pulled his cap over +his eyes. The old Sugar House! Too well he knew of the misery and +degradation in store for those who crossed its threshold. No escapes +were ever effected, and the hope of exchange, unless one were an +officer, was too slim to dwell upon; Washington's captures went for +higher game than privates and raw recruits. But two things could open +these relentless gates to him--death or the end of the struggle; and +the latter seemed far enough away. + +And Joscelyn! would she care that he suffered and died by inches? Would +she think of him regretfully, tenderly, when all was done? It was hard +to love a girl of whose very sympathy one was not sure; and yet he knew +he had rather have her mockery than another woman's caresses. + +For an hour he lay upon the ground, his heart convulsed with grief, but +his body so rigidly quiet that his companions thought he slept. They +could not tell that under his cap his eyes were staring wide, seeing, +not the cap above, but a girl's face framed in soft meshes of hair and +lit by eyes as gray-blue as the sea when the tides are quiescent and the +winds are fast asleep. By and by the intense heat of the evening set the +wound in his head to throbbing, and rousing up, he begged the corporal +of the guard for a little water and a bandage. The man--the same with +whom he had talked before--brought these to him after a little delay, +and found for him in his own kit a bit of healing salve, which his +English mother had given him at parting. + +"She said 'twould cure bad blood, and methinks yours is bad enough to +put it to the test," he said, laughing, and yet with a certain rough +kindliness. + +"Well, since it hath not killed you, methinks I am safe," Richard +laughed back gratefully, while one of his comrades dressed the wound, +which gave promise of speedy healing. + +"What is your name?" he asked of the corporal. + +"James Colborn, of the King's Artillery." + +"Well, 'tis a pity you are in such bad employ, for you have an uncommon +good heart and a face that matches it. When General Washington hath +licked the boots off you fellows, come down south and pay me a visit. My +mother'll be so grateful for every kind word you have spoken to me, that +she'll feed you on good cookery until you are as fat as a Michaelmas +goose." + +"I'll come," the other laughed, "but I'll wear my boots; it will be you +fellows who will go barefooted from a licking." + +"Don't wager your birthright on that; you'd lose even the mess of +pottage." + +Under the relief the dressing of his wound afforded, Richard fell +asleep, and his dreams must have been comforting, for on his face was +a smile of happiness, and the words he murmured made the corporal of +the guard laugh to himself as he trod to and fro before the open tent. + +"Have you a favourite dog named Joscelyn?" he asked teasingly, when he +roused Richard for supper. + +"No." + +"A horse, then?" + +Richard looked at him questioningly, half-inclined to be angry. + +"You have been talking in your sleep." + +"Joscelyn is not a dog nor a horse; she is my sweetheart." + +"Mine's named Margie." + +There was a moment of silence during which the two young fellows felt +almost akin with friendly sympathy. They longed to shake hands and tell +each other their love tales. + +"Margie's eyes are black," said Colborn softly. + +"Joscelyn has sea-blue eyes." + +"I like black ones better." + +"I'd love Joscelyn's eyes, were they as vari-coloured as Joseph's coat." + +"Well said." The speaker thrust his hand into his shirt and drew out a +metal case which contained a picture of a buxom English girl. "It took a +whole month's pay to have that made, but I wasn't coming to America +without bringing a likeness of her to look at. When I am promoted to a +captaincy I shall have it set in gold and brilliants. She is counting +the months until I go back to her," he continued with a burst of +confidence, while his honest face flamed with a boyish blush. "For every +week I am away, she drops a pebble into a china jar I gave her, that I +may count the kisses she shall owe me when we meet. Never you doubt but +I shall cheat in the count, though I have to carry back a pocketful of +American pebbles to help me out!" Then, by way of prelude to that coming +happiness, he kissed the picture with eager frankness before returning +it to the case, saying there were already twelve pebbles in the jar. + +Many times during the few days when the army lay encamped upon the sandy +reaches of the Hook did Richard have occasion to be grateful to the +young corporal for little acts of kindness, and in return he told him +something of his own life, so that a curious friendship was formed +between the two; and when the embarkation finally came, Richard was +glad to find that the same guard and officers would have the prisoners +in charge until the dreaded doors of the jail should close upon them. + +As they marched clankily down the streets of New York, he believed that +now he knew how condemned men felt as they approached the gallows, only +the gallows seemed better than those frowning walls yonder, at whose +narrow windows the miserable inmates stood in relays that each might +draw a few good breaths during the long and suffocating day. The old +Sugar House! He set his teeth hard when at last they stood before its +doors, and the first squad of prisoners passed out of sight within its +gloomy portals. He was telling the sunshine and the clouds good-by +before his turn to enter should come, when, to his surprise, the doors +swung to, and the squad in which he marched was wheeled down another +street. After a few minutes he caught Colborn's eye, and read therein +tidings of some new disaster. Whither were they carrying him and his +unfortunate companions! No faintest hint of their destination came to +him, until, the city being crossed, they halted again, this time beside +the water's edge, far to the east. As some delay was evident, the +corporal bade the prisoners sit down upon the shore; and while his men +formed in the rear to watch, he himself passed slowly up and down the +water's edge, stopping at last beside Richard, who sat at the end of +the line of captives as much to himself as possible, for his heart was +heavy with a new forboding. + +"In ten minutes," said the corporal, speaking quickly and in an +undertone, "I shall have parted with you, perhaps forever. I know you +for a brave man and a generous one, and I am sorry for your fate. The +plan has been changed. The Sugar House would not hold all of you; so, +for lack of other accommodations, this squad of prisoners is ordered +to--" + +"Where?" + +"--to the prison-ships lying across the bay." + +Richard staggered up. "The hells, the floating hells!" + +"Yes, that is what they are sometimes called." + +"My God!" For a moment the fortitude that had sustained him during the +last ten days gave way, and he sank down again, covering his face with +his hands in a dry-eyed anguish. + +"I wish from my soul that I might have helped you, but this is all I can +do," the corporal said. "Pick them up as a gift from a brother in arms." +He surreptitiously dropped some coins upon the sand, and Richard, more +because of the friendliness of the gift than because he thought of their +value, ran his fingers through the sand and picked them up, shoving them +into a torn place in the lining of his boot. + +"You have been good to me--" he began slowly, and with the look of a man +who is talking unconsciously; but with an impatient shrug the other had +moved away. When he had walked the length of the line and stood looking +over the water a minute, he came again to Richard's side, apparently +with no special object in view. His voice was very low as he said:-- + +"True soldiers respect each other, no matter what the colour of their +uniforms. I guessed--but I want to know for certain--did you let the +little lad escape the other night rather than go by yourself and leave +him?" + +Richard nodded. Colborn took off his hat. Those who watched him from the +sand and from the picket line thought he but bared his head to the cool +sea breeze, but in truth it was to a brave man's self-sacrifice. A +Scripture verse was running in his head: "Greater love hath no man than +this, that he give his life for his friend." But he did not speak it, +for a boat grating on the sand behind made him turn. + +"The ship's warden to receive you," he said, with a quick-drawn breath. +"God help you!" Then aloud: "Attention!" + +The prisoners arose and lined up as the boat's crew came ashore. The +warden conferred a few minutes with the corporal, went over the list of +prisoners, counted them carefully, eying each one sternly as he did so; +then turned again to the corporal, who, after another short conference, +stepped out before the line of prisoners. + +"Attention! My care of you ends here. The warden of the prison-ships +will henceforth have you in charge." At a signal his men fell back, and +the crew from the ship's long-boat took their places; the two officers +saluted, and the corporal stepped aside. + +"Attention! Forward! March!" the warden shouted, pointing with his sword +to the boat; and the handful of dazed and miserable captives, like so +many automatons, caught step and sullenly moved to the water. As +Richard, who brought up the rear, passed Colborn, the latter +whispered:-- + +"Your Joscelyn shall know," and Richard's eyes spoke his thanks. + +Then the boat drew away from shore, carrying its freight of helpless +despair to the plague-infected hulk rocking in the tide, the plaything +of the winds, the sport of every leaping wave that cast its crystal +fringes to the sun. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A MESSAGE OUT OF THE NORTH. + + "I love thee, and I feel + That in the fountain of my heart a seal + Is set, to keep its waters pure and bright + For thee." + --SHELLEY. + + +"It's all very well for our husbands and sons to be away fighting for +their country--I'd horsewhip one of mine who sneaked at home; but for +all that, this manless state of the town is a terrible test to the +tidiness and the tempers of the womenfolk," said Mistress Strudwick, as +she sat on her porch with some chosen cronies, and watched the young +girls of the town promenading in the aftermath of the July sunset with +never a cavalier among them. "Look at Lucinda Hardy, she's as cross as a +patch; and yonder is Janet Cameron, who has not curled her hair for a +week--just mops it up any way, since there are no men to see it." + +"And there's 'Liza Jones without her stays," said Mistress Clevering. + +"Yes, and looking for all the world like a comfortable pillow that has +just been shaken up; but if there was a man under threescore in seeing +distance, she'd be as trim as you please," replied Mistress Strudwick. +"Heigh-ho, what a slipshod world this would be if there were nobody but +women in it!" + +"And what a topsy-turvy place 'twould be with only men. Nobody'd ever +know where anything was," said quiet Mistress Cheshire, with poignant +recollections of striving to keep up with the belongings of two +husbands. "Depend upon it, Martha Strudwick, the world would be a deal +worse off without women than without men, for men never can find +anything." + +"I am quite of your mind, Mary. In sooth, I always had a sneaking notion +that Columbus brought his wife along when he came to discover America, +and that 'twas she who first saw the land," said Sally Ruffin. + +"I don't seem to remember that there was a Mistress Columbus," said Ann +Clevering, biting off her thread with a snap. + +"Well, goodness knows there had ought to have been, for Columbus had a +son," replied Martha Strudwick, greatly scandalized, although her own +knowledge in the matter was somewhat hazy. + +"How 'pon earth did we ever get to talking such wise things as history?" +asked Mistress Cheshire, whose _forte_ was housewifely recipes. + +"We were saying as how men never could find things." + +"Oh, yes." + +"Well," said Martha Strudwick, thoughtfully, "that depends on what kind +of things you mean. Now there's my husband--and he's a good man, good as +common--he can find a fish-hook in the dark if it's good biting season; +but he can't see the long-handled hoe in the broad daylight if it's +weeding time in the garden and the sun is hot. Finding things depends +more on a man's mind than his eyes." + +"Then there's a heap of them who lose their minds mighty handy," +retorted Ann Clevering. + +Mistress Cheshire pushed back her chair: "I shall run home and caution +Dilsy about putting the bread to rise; she's that unseeing that I think +Providence must have first meant her to be a man." Which was as near a +joke as anything Mistress Cheshire ever said. As she trotted away the +others looked after her affectionately. + +"Mary is such a mild-mannered woman," said Ann Clevering; "many's the +time I've heard her first husband--dead and gone these twenty-three +years--say it was an accident little short of a miracle how Providence +could make a woman with so little tongue." + +"Joscelyn, with her goings-on, must be a dreadful trial to her," sighed +Amanda Bryce. + +"And not only to her mother, but to the whole town," snapped another +woman. + +"Hoity-toity!" bristled Mistress Strudwick, "what's the matter with +Joscelyn? She is the very life of the place, now that the men are gone. +If 'twere not for discussing her, and abusing her,"--with a withering +glance at the last speaker,--"we should go tongue-tied for lack of +somewhat to talk about. She's a tonic for us all, and without her we'd +be going to sleep." + +"Sleep is a good thing," sniffed Amanda Bryce. + +"Ay," retorted Mistress Strudwick, "when you are tucked in bed and the +lights are out, it is; but not when you are standing up flat-footed with +baking and brewing and weaving and such things to look after. Joscelyn's +all right, Tory though she be. Look at her now, with all those red roses +stuck around her belt; she's the finest sight on the street." + +"Fine enough to look at, I'm not gainsaying you; what I object to is +hearing her when she talks about our war." + +"Well, Amanda, if our swords were all as sharp as her tongue can be, the +war would soon be over." + +"You always were partial to the lass, Martha." + +"Ay, I often told Richard Clevering I'd be his rival were I a man, old +or young; and truly I believe Joscelyn would look with more favour upon +me of the two," laughed the corpulent dame, remembering the soft little +touches with which the girl sometimes tidied up her gray hair and unruly +neckerchief, and the caress upon her cheek that always closed the job. + +"I wonder you can take up so for her, Martha, when all your menfolk are +in the Continental army, and she a rank Tory." + +"Oh, I can forgive a woman her politics, because, like a man's +religion, it's apt to be picked up second-hand and liable to change at +any time." + +"Don't you believe men have any true religion?" + +"Well, ye-e-s; if the rain comes in season, and the crops are good, and +the cattle don't break into the corn, and their victuals are well +cooked, they are apt to be middling religious." + +"Remember you have a husband of your own." + +"Yes, praise God, I have, and a good man he is, too; but when the dam in +the levee breaks, or the cows get the hollow-horn, he's that rearing, +tearing put out that he couldn't say offhand whether preordination or +general salvation was the true doctrine; but the time never comes when +he's too mad or too worried to know he's a Whig, every hair of him. That +is what makes me say religion is a picked-up habit with men and politics +is their nature. With a woman it's the other way; so I laugh at +Joscelyn's politics, and kiss her bonny face and love her all the time." + +"That is more than I can do. If it were not for her mother, I should +forbid my daughter to have aught to do with her," said Amanda Bryce, +sniffily, as Joscelyn passed the gate with Betty Clevering and Janet +Cameron, and called up a pleasant "good afternoon" to the elder women. + +"Well, your girl and not Joscelyn would be the loser thereby," retorted +Martha Strudwick, regardless of the fact that she was in her own house; +and there would doubtless have been sharp words had not Mistress +Clevering interposed with some gentle remonstrance. + +A little later the whole party of young people began to move toward the +tavern; for it was the day the post was due, if by good fortune it had +escaped the marauders and highwaymen who, in the assumed name of war, +infested the roads. Always there was a crowd about the tavern on +Thursday afternoons, in hopes that news of the fighting and of friends +would be forthcoming. This particular day they were not disappointed; +for the women on the porch, looking up the street, presently saw that +something unusual was to pay, and forgetful of bonnets or caps, they +hastened to learn what it was. The postbag, with its slender store, lay +neglected on the table, for the crowd had gathered eagerly about some +one on the steps, and exclamations and questions filled the air. + +"What is it?" demanded Mistress Strudwick, breathless from her haste, +and the crowd divided and showed a lad, pale and worn, sitting on the +steps. + +"Billy, my Billy!" shrieked Amanda Bryce, and passing the other women, +she caught him in her arms and hugged him frantically. For a few moments +no one spoke or interfered, but after the dame had kissed every square +inch of his face, and had felt his head, shoulders, and arms for +fractures, Martha Strudwick interposed. + +"Come, Billy, tell us where you come from and what news you bring from +the front. Has there been a fight, boy?" + +"Ay, and a victory for us." + +"A victory? Hurrah! When? Where? Talk quick!" cried a dozen voices +shrill with their eagerness. + +"At Monmouth town in Jersey. 'Twas there we overtook Clinton as he made +for New York." + +"We have already had rumours of it. And you did fight him and put him to +rout? Who fell, and who was wounded? Can't you talk faster?" + +"Truly we did fight when we got the chance, though Lee--the foul fiends +take him!--tried hard not to let us. It was the hottest day I ever felt. +The sand and dust--" + +"Never mind about the sand and dust; tell us of the battle." + +And so by piecemeal, with many a question and interruption, he told them +the story of that remarkable battle and his own capture. + +"And who was taken with you?" + +"Master Peter Ruffin, Amos Andrews, and Richard Clevering from our +company, and some threescore more whom I knew not." + +But only a few heard the last clause of his sentence, for among the +women were relatives and friends of each of the men mentioned, and there +were sobs and moans for the fate of their loved ones. So great was the +abhorrence in which British prisons were held, that death seemed almost +preferable. Then presently Betty Clevering cried shrilly:-- + +"And if you were captured, how comes it you are here?" + +"I escaped." + +"And how many escaped with you?" + +"None--none; not even Richard." + +Mistress Ruffin took him sharply by the arm. "Do you mean to say that a +strip of a lad like you had sense enough to get away, and grown men were +held? That's a pretty tale!" + +And then with stifled sobs he told of Richard's sacrifice and his own +getting away. + +"For an hour I waited there in the grass, hoping for him to come; and +when I dared stay no longer I crept to the hillside and hid in a little +cave, from which I watched the army in the distance take up its march +next day. I started once to go back and die with Richard in prison, +but--" + +"Talk not so, my son; 'twould have killed me and done Richard no good," +cried his mother, caressing his curly head against her shoulder. +"Richard did not want you back--God bless him for a generous lad!" + +"No," sobbed the lad, "he is so noble, so good; and I let him go back, +let him sacrifice himself for me, for had I but slept on he would have +gotten away." + +All this while Mistress Clevering had not spoken; now she lifted her +head, and no mother of Sparta ever looked more proud or more resigned. + +"Yes, you were right to come away; he gave you your freedom at the cost +of his own, and it would have grieved him had you returned and made the +sacrifice useless. 'Tis a beautiful thing to be the mother of a son like +that. I am content." And Martha Strudwick leaned over and kissed her +softly. + +"And how fared it with you when the British had marched away?" asked his +mother of Billy. + +"I reached the coast and followed it for two days, when I came to a +village whence a trading vessel was leaving to smuggle its cargo to the +south. The captain took me on, and after ten days I was put ashore near +New Berne town, from which place I have made my way home, travelling +with the post these two days." + +"You have not then been back to the army?" + +"No, but I shall start to-morrow, now that I have seen you, mother, and +when I have given Richard's messages to Mistress Clevering and--" + +He stopped; but his glance had travelled to Joscelyn standing at the +edge of the crowd, and Janet Cameron laughed. + +"What said my boy? Out with it!" cried Mistress Clevering, eagerly. + +"He did send you his dear love, even as he was to bring mine to mother +had I been the one left behind. I would I could tell you how reverent +and tender his voice was when he spoke your name." + +The Spartan in the woman broke down, and the mother prevailed. "My son, +my dear son, did God give you in answer to my prayers only to take you +away like this? What may he not be suffering at this very moment, and I +who have watched him from his cradle powerless to help him! Oh, but war +is a cruel thing! My son, my son!" + +Betty and Mistress Cheshire led her away weeping, and for a few minutes, +silence held the women as they looked away to the north and thought of +the strife enacting, and the pain being endured there for liberty. And +besides those carried away into captivity, how many others--perhaps +their own nearest and dearest--had been left on the battle-field? + +"See," cried Amanda Bryce, turning fiercely on Joscelyn, whose eyes, +full of a misty tenderness, were following Aunt Clevering down the +street--"see what you miserable Tories are doing to us, your neighbours! +Shame upon you, I say; shame upon you!" + +"Ay, shame upon you!" cried several voices; and faces scowled and a few +fists were clenched. The girl cowered back, amazed, affrighted. + +"Pull those red roses out of her belt; we want no Tory colours here!" +cried Amanda Bryce; and two or three hands reached toward the knot of +scarlet blossoms. But Joscelyn, her eyes beginning to kindle, stepped +back and raised her own hand warningly. + +"Do not touch me! Yes, I am a Tory, as you are pleased to call us, +and I am not ashamed that the king's army hath been preserved from +destruction; but I am sorry, very sorry your friends and kindred are +to suffer--though perhaps some punishment is necessary to rebels." + +Mistress Strudwick started to the girl's side, but little Billy Bryce +was before her. + +"Who touches Joscelyn must first pass me!" he cried to the angry women. +"Mother, be silent! What share could a girl like this have in our +capture; and what matters a few men taken when the victory was ours?" + +"Yes, praise God, we thrashed the miserable cowards of Redcoats as they +deserved." + +"A great thrashing 'twas, when they lost not a wagon of their train, and +took more prisoners than Washington," Joscelyn answered tartly. + +A dozen voices answered her angrily, and she opened her lips to reply, +but Mistress Strudwick clapped her broad palm over the girl's mouth. + +"Hold your saucy tongue, Joscelyn; and you girls, there, be silent this +minute. What, is the war to ruin the manners of our women that they can +descend so low as to brawl in the public streets? Shame upon you, every +one! What hath come of your senses that you thus demean yourselves and +belittle the raising your elders gave you?" + +The reproof had the desired effect; for the girl stood silent and +abashed, and her angry assailants drew back. Taking advantage of the +lull, Mistress Strudwick seized Joscelyn by the arm and almost forcibly +drew her away. + +"Begone to your home, and bide there till you learn some sense," she +cried sharply. "What's the use in butting your brains out against a +wall, when there's room enough to go around it? There is no fool like a +self-made fool! Go." But when the girl had gone a few steps she made her +return. "Promise me truly," she whispered, "that you'll go straight home +and stay until the fire you kindled here burns down a bit--promise you +will not stir from the house, or I shall not sleep to-night." + +"I promise, dear Mistress Strudwick," Joscelyn said, kissing the big +hand that patted her cheek. "You heard me say I was sorry our townsfolk +were taken, and so I am." + +"Yes, yes. Harkee, tell your mother I say to be sure and send Amanda +Bryce a loaf of hot bread for supper--Billy will be hungry with running +so far from Monmouth," she said, with a meaning wink. In truth, she +intended the hot bread as a peace-offering to Mistress Bryce, for it +was by such small acts of quiet diplomacy that she kept down the enmity +against the Cheshires, or rather against Joscelyn, since she it was who +aroused the resentment. + +Slowly the girl went down the street thinking of the scene just passed. +Mistress Strudwick was right; it was a disgrace for women to brawl thus +upon the public thoroughfares; never again would she let her temper get +the better of her in this way--only they should not touch her. And +already half-forgetful of her resolution, she mounted her steps with +flashing eyes and flaming cheeks. + +Presently lights began to glimmer through the dusk, and when the dark +really came every house in the town showed a candle in its window in +token of the advantage won at Monmouth, for since Washington held the +field they deemed him victorious. Even in those houses where grief had +entered, the light shone; for true patriotism is never selfish. Only the +Cheshire windows were dark, so that the house made a blot in the street. +Mistress Cheshire had gone to the Cleverings to condole with them over +Richard; but Joscelyn, because of her promise to Mistress Strudwick, had +bided at home, though she would much have loved to comfort Betty. From +porch to porch the women called to each other, and some of the girls +sang snatches of song here and there, like mocking-birds hid in the +shadows. But Joscelyn sat at her upper window, silent and musing, +thinking what a beautiful thing Richard Clevering had done to let the +little lad go free while he himself went back to captivity. Suddenly a +voice below her whispered:-- + +"Hist! Joscelyn, Joscelyn!" + +She leaned over the window-sill. "Who is it?" + +"It is I--Billy Bryce. I have only a minute, for mother must not know I +came, but I have a message for you." + +"From whom comes it, Billy?" + +"From Richard. Come quickly." + +She ran lightly down to the veranda and leaned over the railing to the +boy in the shadow. He took her hands eagerly in his. + +"He loves you, Joscelyn!" + +She did not answer. He was too earnest for a jest, so she only pressed +his hand and waited. + +"He is so noble, so generous, Joscelyn; even among us younger boys he +never did a mean thing, and there's not a man in the company who is not +his friend." + +"Yes, I always knew Richard had a kind heart, and his letting you go in +his stead was unselfish--beautiful; and I honour him for it." + +"And do you not love him for it also?" the lad begged wistfully. "Say +that you love him just a little." + +"Nay, Billy; he is brave and kind, and he is my friend and Betty's +brother, therefore do I wish him naught but good fortune and happiness; +but, laddie, I do not love him." + +"You are cruel--heartless!" he cried, flinging her hands away. +"Richard's little finger hath more feeling in it and is worth more than +your whole body." + +"Your championship does you credit, Billy, and I shall not quarrel with +you for appraising my value so low. Mayhap Richard thinks differently." + +"Ay, that he does--more's the pity!" Then taking her hands again, he +said vehemently: "An you come not to love him, I pray God to curse you +with an ugliness so great that no other man may ever kiss or love you! +For listen; as we lay in the dark that night waiting for the moment to +escape, this is what he said: 'If you get away and I do not, say to +Joscelyn Cheshire that even behind prison bars I am her lover; and that +if death comes, her face, or the blessed memory of it, will outshine +those of the angels of Paradise.' That was his message. I have faced +many dangers to bring it to you. Now that you have it, I shall go back +to my regiment, and if a ball finds me, well and good; Richard will know +somehow and somewhere that I did not fail him." + +The girl dropped her head low in the starlight. + +"Good-by, Billy; you have filled your mission bravely. Heaven keep you +safe and send you back once more to your mother and us." + +He put up his hand and stroked her cheek softly. + +"I do not wonder that he loves you, Joscelyn, you are so beautiful, and +you can be so sweet--so sweet," he exclaimed, and then ran away into the +dark, leaving her alone with the words of the love-message ringing in +her ears. + +So still she stood that a big moth flying wearily by rested a moment on +her shoulder; across the way her mother was bidding Aunt Clevering good +night with admonitions to sleep well, and from down the street came the +voices of the singers chanting of victory and the home-coming of loved +ones. But above everything the girl on the dark balcony heard a deep, +strong voice saying, "Even behind prison bars I am her lover." + +Prison bars! + +And suddenly she threw up her arms in the flower-sweet dusk and +whispered vehemently:-- + +"Set him free, dear God! set him free!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +DREAMS. + + "For thoughts, like waves that glide by night, + Are stillest when they shine." + --OLD SONG. + + +"Rouse up, Richard! Rouse up, man! An you give way like this, you'll +soon be taking the ship-fever and dying. 'Tis no use to wilfully hasten +the end," said Peter Ruffin to the apathetic man beside him. + +But Richard sat staring over the waters, saying only in a dogged way, +"'Tis no use to retard it." + +"Ay, but it is; something may happen--Washington may drive Clinton from +New York--" + +"He cannot, for he hath not the force." + +"--Or we may escape." + +Richard glanced around the deck where guards, armed to their teeth, +trod in ceaseless vigil, and then looked away to the shore, where a +few cabins marked the station of the shore patrol who took up the +watch where the ship guard left off, thus making assurance doubly +sure. + +"With the sea and a double guard against us, the chance is not worth the +counting." + +"A resolute man could swim ashore from here." + +"Methinks he could most easily, especially with the tide in his favour; +but if he eludes the watch here, the patrol yonder will shoot him like a +rat when he crawls out of the water. No, Peter, I have gone over it all +in my mind, calculated the method of reaching the water, the length of +the swim, and the best place to land. I have even tried to get speech +with Dame Grant when she comes with her wares, to see if she could not +be bribed to aid me; but the warden never takes his eyes from her until +her sales are over and her boat ready to start. She has a solemnly sour +face, but mayhap a gold piece would soften her heart to mercy. It was +for this that I have hoarded Colborn's gold." + +"I, too, thought of the bumboat woman, but gave up hope of aid from her, +seeing how she is watched. 'Twere as much as her life is worth to give +us the smallest assistance," answered Peter. + +"Yes, we are cut off from every chance, condemned--doomed--and seeing +this, I have given up hope." + +"I am some twenty years your senior, Richard, and I say to you that a +sane man never ceases to hope." + +"Then mayhap I am insane--sometimes I think it may be so. Surely, it was +the arch-fiend himself who put it into the hearts of the English to turn +these disease-infected hulks into prisons; no mere mortal mind could +have in itself conceived such a thought. The fever or the vermin--which +were worse, 'twere hard to say. To rot here inch by inch, and the fight +going on outside! God, but 'tis hard!" + +"Hist! the guard is looking at you suspiciously. 'Tis no use getting his +ill-will; let us talk of something else." And when the sentinel passed +slowly in front of them, the older man was talking of his boy who had +died in childhood, and the younger one had dropped his head again upon +his breast and sat in moody silence. Thus had life crept on for five +weeks, each day of which was a slow-paced agony, each night a long-drawn +horror. + +Wallabout Bay, where the prison-ships were anchored, cut into the Long +Island shore on the north, and was protected from the storms that rocked +the outer deep. Most of the prisoners were seamen, but now and then a +squad of land captives, for lack of some other place in which to confine +them, were sent thither to starve and suffer and wait their turn to die. +The wound in Richard's head had healed, thanks to Colborn's salve; but +the confinement, together with the scant and rancid food and the foul +air in the ship's hold where the nights were passed, was slowly +undermining his strength of body and of will. Each morning the inhuman +order, "Rebels, turn out your dead!" which the guard called down through +the opened hatches, sent a shiver of horror to his very soul; and the +feeling was not lessened as he aided in selecting the poor fellows who +had died in the night, and saw them sewed into their blankets and rowed +away to shallow graves upon the shore. Two of the prisoners were made to +act as grave-diggers on these occasions, the guard going merely to +superintend. + +Twice in the past weeks Richard and Peter had gone in the funeral-boat, +and on each occasion thoughts of making a break for liberty had haunted +them. But the futility of such an attempt was made apparent by the +proximity of the shore patrol, within range of whose guns the graves +were dug. The nearest cover was a line of sand-dunes and stunted +brush-growth fifty yards up the level beach, before reaching which a man +could be pierced by twenty bullets. Regretfully and angrily the two men +noted this; and later on had it all doubly impressed upon them by the +shooting of a prisoner who, one day, when the grave was half-filled, +made the mad attempt to get away. Only one of the two impressed +grave-diggers came back in the boat that day, for the other was buried +where he fell; and the harshness of the ship-jailers increased toward +those who remained. + +"Look," said Richard, shuddering, the second time he and Peter were +detailed to take a corpse to the sandy burying-ground; "already the +waves have opened some of the graves and left the poor fellows but the +scantest covering. Before long their bones will whiten to the sun." + +"It is a sickening certainty! And all of this you and I might escape +if so we would but go back yonder to the warden and take the oath of +allegiance to the king, and change these tattered coats for gay uniforms +of scarlet," answered Peter. + +"True; but like those who have gone before us, we will die in the ship +yonder and fester here in the sand first. Between death and English +slavery there is a quick choice, and we made it long ago. But promise +me, Peter, that if I die first you will ask to come as my sexton, and +dig me a grave deep enough to keep me from the sea for at least a little +while." + +"I will; and you will do a like thing for me. But as I told you the +other day, you will go before me, and soon at that, if so you keep up +this dreary moping." + +But Richard could not bring himself to hope. The absolute helplessness +of their position, the powerlessness of action of any sort took from +him the ability to reason normally. Everything twisted itself backward +to the wretched and relentless present, turn where he would for +consolation. And so after the morning tasks of airing blankets and +scrubbing decks were performed, he sat all day looking sullenly out over +the water, studying the changing moods of the sea, watching the gulls as +they flapped past or went soaring upward with the glancing sunlight on +their wings. And all this while there was but one clear thought in his +mind--Joscelyn. Plainer than the faces about him he saw her features, +and above the ship noises and the restless wash of the waves, he heard +the sweet accents of her voice. Incessantly he brooded over each memory +of her, recalling the chestnut tints of her hair, the blue lights in her +eyes, and the rose hues of cheeks and lips. Her beauty had never before +appeared to him so great or so much to be desired as now. + +"Even behind prison bars I am her lover;" often he said the words to +himself, wondering morbidly if Billy carried her the message, and what +she said in answer. He would never know, of course, for his career must +end yonder in the sand with his unfortunate fellows; but liberty itself +would not be sweeter than some token, it mattered not how small, of her +sorrow and her favour. How he longed for her, body and soul! Always +in fancy he kissed her good night, holding the sweet face between his +palms and watching to see the eyes droop under his ardent gaze, and the +delicate lips quiver with the passion of his caress. He told himself it +was only such fleeting fancies as these that kept him sane. For in these +moments she was tender and loving, and she was all his; and the unknown +husband--he who would one day claim her in reality when he himself, with +his idle dreams, should be dead and gone--he hated with a jealous rage +as vital as though the man stood before him in the flesh; and he looked +at his fingers with a dull sense of their strangling powers, and longed +to feel them tighten over a purpling throat. Peter talked of heaven, of +its rest and peace; but how could there be for him either joy or peace, +even in Paradise, while another man held Joscelyn in his arms? Often in +his cloying misery he tried to make out who this other lover would be; +but no one, not even Eustace Singleton, seemed to fill the place. Once, +and his heart had been hot with jealousy at the thought, he had imagined +that under hers and Eustace's frank friendship there lingered a warmer +feeling; but this fancy stood no test of observation, for in no +act of Joscelyn's was there a trace of that air, indescribable yet +unmistakable, that marks the beginnings of love; and of late months +Eustace had a way of looking at Betty that put strange fancies into +Richard's head. No, Joscelyn and Eustace were not lovers; it would be +some one else, some stranger who would claim all the sweetness of her +love. And at the thought the murderous fingers writhed upon each other, +and the sweat of agony was on his brow. Then his fancy would take +another turn. There was no other lover, there never would be any other; +by strength of his love she belonged to him here and would be his +through all eternity. In heaven there is no marrying nor giving in +marriage, so the Bible said; but surely God would be merciful to him, +knowing how he had missed his happiness here. + +This was the dream-palace in which he dwelt, while he gazed vacantly +over the sunlit sea and waited to be sewed into his blanket and carried +across to the white sands by those who, in their turn, one after +another, should follow to the same end. + +And then, one morning when August was well on the wane, something +happened that broke the spell of deadening despair that held him in its +grasp. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +NEWS OF LOVE AND WAR. + + "Hidden perfumes and secret loves betray themselves." + --JOUBERT. + + +"Joscelyn, from my upper window I have seen a rider turn into the next +street and make for the tavern. Perchance he brings news or letters. +Will you come with me and see?" It was Betty's voice under her window, +and Joscelyn put her head out a moment to say she would go; then ran +downstairs. And go she did in spite of her mother's vehement protest. + +"'Tis scarce three weeks gone since you were reviled in the streets as a +Tory, and now you will go thrust yourself in place to receive the same +treatment again. 'Tis folly--ay, worse than folly!" + +But Joscelyn scarcely heard, for in the street Betty was pulling her +along at such a pace. + +"Methought you would be glad to get a letter from--well, from--It is +something over three weeks since you last heard from--" a shy little +laugh finished the sentence, and she gave Joscelyn an extra pull which +set them into a run. + +"How glad somebody would be to see you in such haste to get a letter +written to me," panted Joscelyn, laughing. + +"Whither away so fast?" cried Mistress Strudwick from her door; but they +did not stop to answer, only calling back merrily that a man, grown, yet +not old, nor crippled, nor blind, had ridden into the square, and they +were going to have a look at so wonderful a curiosity. + +As they turned into the open space before the court-house, the town-bell +struck a few resonant notes, a signal from the decrepit old ringer that +there was news for somebody. In a few minutes the place was thronged +with eager wives and mothers and sweethearts crying out for tidings of +their loved ones. Did the man bring any? Yes, he was but now out of the +north; whither he went mattered not to them, a man's mission was his own +secret, but in his pouch were letters for towns along the route, and he +brought, besides, news of the dreadful massacre in Pennsylvania. And +when the few letters were distributed he stood upon the steps and told +the pitiful story of Wyoming Valley. + +"The able-bodied men were away fighting with Washington; only the old +men and women and children remained. Upon this helpless band hundreds of +British and Indians, led by Butler, fell, driving them to the fort. +Thence the men, shaking with age, but not with fear, sallied to the +attack, were defeated and captured, and in sight of those within were +tortured with every fiendish device the savages could invent. Then the +fort surrendered, and in spite of Butler's efforts tomahawk and +scalping-knife did their deadly work among the helpless captives. +Outraged women, spitted upon rails, saw their tender babes brained +against rocks and trees. The yells of the captors were mingled with the +cries for mercy and the shrieks of the dying, and night was turned into +day by the light of burning villages. In all the beautiful valley not a +house was spared; and where had been prosperity is now but a desolate +wilderness strewn with graves and ruins." + +When he finished, women were weeping upon each other's necks, thinking +of their own little ones and those other murdered babies. And fierce was +the denunciation of Butler for enlisting in his army savages whose +brutality could not be controlled. This was not war; it was +assassination, as cowardly as it was cruel. + +So bitter was the feeling aroused, that for a while the fact that the +courier had brought some letters was quite overlooked, until Mistress +Nash and Janet Cameron came forward with epistles which contained +messages for many of those present. Then it was remembered that the +other two letters had both been for Joscelyn Cheshire, and immediately a +dozen voices demanded her. But she was already well down the street, her +arm linked in Betty Clevering's. + +"Come away, Aunt Cheshire will be wretched about you," the latter had +whispered to her, remembering the scene in this very place a few weeks +before and dreading a repetition of it, and in her secret heart wishing +that at least one of the letters in Joscelyn's hand should not be read +aloud to the public, knowing well that in it was some love-message for +herself, for was not that why Eustace wrote so often to Joscelyn? And so +she dragged her companion back the way they had come; but as they walked +Joscelyn tore open the letter with the familiar seal, exclaiming +gayly:-- + +"Paper is not scarce with Eustace, since he sends me three whole sheets. +Let me see--Betty--Betty--Betty--just in a fleeting glance I see your +name some eight times. What a fondness he hath for writing the word!" + +"Let me read with you, Joscelyn," cried Betty, her cheeks very bright; +and drawing close together the two girls held the sheet between them and +slackened their pace. But they were not left long to their privacy, for +by the time they reached the Cheshire door a dozen neighbours were upon +them. + +"So, so, Joscelyn, be not running away with your tidings. Tell us what +Clinton is doing in New York," exclaimed Mistress Strudwick, who had +come with the others to give the girl countenance, if so she should need +it. + +"Ay, do not be playing the selfish, but give us the news," cried several +voices. + +"I am as ignorant as you of General Clinton's doings," the girl said, +smiling at the first speaker; "for, as far as I have got, the letter is +full of questions about somebody here at home." + +"Yes, a spying letter for information, no doubt," sneered Amanda Bryce. +"The courier said they were both from some one in New York. Who writes +to you from Clinton's army?" + +"Eustace Singleton, a handsome lad whom you know right well, Mistress +Bryce." + +"He sends you two letters by the same hand? Faith! he is an ardent +correspondent." + +"Nay, this other letter is in a strange writing. I know not yet who hath +sent it." + +"Break the wafer and read it to us." + +"I do not choose, Mistress Bryce, to give my letters to the public." + +"Do not choose, because you do not dare." + +"Do not dare?" + +"Hush, Joscelyn, she does not mean what she says," put in Mistress +Strudwick. + +"Yes, I do mean it, Martha, every word of it. She dare not read it, +because it is a spying letter,--asking information, mayhap, which may +give us over to a massacre like to that of Wyoming: that's why she dare +not." + +A chorus of cries and hisses arose, but the girl on the step did not +quail. Her delicate lip curled with scorn. "'Tis false! You do all know +I would be incapable of such wickedness." + +"Then read us the letter and prove it." + +"I will not." + +She thrust the letter into her bosom and faced them with flashing eyes, +the very picture of defiance. But a touch from Mistress Strudwick +quelled the storm within her. Turning swiftly, she put her arm around +the old woman's neck. "There, I am going to be good. I would not +distress you and mother again for the world. But you know I have the +right of it." + +"Yes," echoed Janet Cameron, taking her place on the other side of +Joscelyn. "We all know that though you are a Tory, you are no traitor; +and I say, Out upon Mistress Bryce for hinting such a thing! I am a +Continental, and my father is in Charleston fighting for the cause, but +I would trust Joscelyn Cheshire to the end of the world!" + +Out in the crowd the sentiment against the girl instantly changed, and +all but Amanda Bryce applauded Janet's words. + +"Eustace Singleton writes her naught but love-letters--let her keep +them!" cried another girl. "Methinks I should not want the world to be +reading my sweetheart's letters and counting the kisses he sends me." + +"No, nor those he gives you," said Martha Strudwick, with a merry wink, +and instantly there was a great laugh, for the girl had been caught +kissing her lover the winter day on which the troops had marched, for +which imprudence her mother had soundly boxed her ears. + +"And now," cried Joscelyn, when the laugh had passed, "to prove that +there is no treason in this letter, I shall let Betty Clevering--as good +a Continental as the best of you--sit down yonder on the bench and read +every word of it before I myself have seen it. Here, Betty, be you the +judge whether what is herein writ is of treasonable import; and mind you +skip nothing, particularly the love passages." She laughingly pushed +Betty upon the bench, and leaving Eustace's letter in her hands, came +back to Janet's side. + +"My letter was from my brother, Joscelyn; and he said he knew not where +Richard had been sent. He himself is in the old Sugar House in New York; +what he suffers he will not say, but we can guess, since so much has +been said of the place." + +Joscelyn kissed the tearful face softly. "Perchance your imagination is +over-vivid. It grieves me to the quick that any of our townsfolk should +suffer." + +"It will be a great relief to his mother to know that Richard is not in +the Sugar House." + +"Yes, there is only one worse prison in the country, and that is for the +captured seamen." + +"Do not let us talk of its horrors." + +So the conversation went on until Betty Clevering, her face like a +budding rose, came forward again. + +"This letter," she said, holding up the missive, "is one of friendship +merely; in it I find absolutely nothing against our cause, save a curse +on the war that keeps the writer from--from her he loves." + +"Dear me, to see her blush one would think it were Betty's love-letter, +not Joscelyn's." + +"How shy she looks!" + +"Betty, was it writ so tenderly that you, who are but an outsider, are +abashed to read it? Truly, I wish Master Singleton would give lessons in +love writing. My man talks so much of General Washington and his doings +that he quite forgets to put in the love passages." + +"And 'tis for those that a woman reads her letters," said Mistress +Strudwick. "The 'I love yous' and 'dears' and 'kisses' scattered through +the pages mean more to her heart than the announcement of a victory. In +faith, old woman as I am, I always read the last sentence first, knowing +it will be the sweetest, if so the writer is in his senses." + +"That is why I wanted so much to read Joscelyn's letter. I knew Eustace +would never plot against his own town any more than she would, but an +ardent love-letter makes good reading, no matter to whom it may be +writ," laughed Dorothy Graham, breaking a glowing rose from a nearby +bush, and holding it playfully against Betty's cheek, looking archly at +her companions as she tapped first one and then the other with her +finger, whereupon the laugh again arose, for some had long ago guessed +at Eustace's passion. + +Meantime, Joscelyn, drawing somewhat apart, took the strange letter from +her dress and broke the wafer. The missive covered but one scant page, +but those who watched as she read saw her face grow pale and her lip +tremble. + + MISTRESS JOSCELYN CHESHIRE, in Hillsboro'-town: + + Richard Clevering, with ten of his comrades, taken at Monmouth + field, lies in one of the prison-ships in Wallabout Bay. If he is + aught to you,--you know best whom _he_ loves,--bestir yourself for + an exchange, for only that can save him from the sure death that + lurks in those accursed hulks. I, one of the guard that carried him + there, promised him that you should know, and at the risk of + discovery and punishment I thus keep my promise. He is brave and + generous. It were a pity to let him die. + JAMES COLBORN. + + NEW YORK, this tenth day of July, 1778. + +Even in the far southern towns the infamy of those prison-ships had been +told, and with a sudden gesture of compassion the girl stretched her +arms toward the opposite house. + +"Aunt Clevering, poor Aunt Clevering!" and thrusting the letter into +Mistress Strudwick's hands, she exclaimed: "Here read it--read it aloud, +then take it over yonder--I cannot." And gathering Betty close in her +arms she listened while the letter was read to the sorrowing women. + +"Who are the others? Called he no names?" + +"Oh, mayhap one is my son!" + +"And another may be my husband!" + +"Even the Sugar House had been easier than this! Mark you what we have +heard of the ferocity of the jailers, the foulness of the food, the +loathsomeness of the ships! They will die, our brave lads will all die +there!" + +"Will die?--Nay, perchance they are already dead; 'tis a month since +this letter was writ, and two months since Monmouth fight." + +And the letter went the rounds of the town, carrying sorrow everywhere +and a miserable dread and uncertainty into many homes, for all of the +men missing from Monmouth were not yet accounted for. Whose dear ones +were suffering with Richard, mine or thine, or our neighbour's? + +All the afternoon, Joscelyn paced her floor, her brows knitted, her +fingers clenched. She knew best whom he loved? Yes, she knew. Every day +for the past year he had let her see his heart; even in their quarrels +over the war, he had not forgotten that he loved her. At first she had +taken it for a passing fancy, and had treated him with laughing +coquetry, fanning his love later on into the white flame of passion with +that groundless jealousy of Eustace. Then it was she realized what it +was with which she was playing. + +And now he was lying in that loathsome ship, with the fever on one side +and the harsh keepers on the other. Did she care as he wanted her to +care? No, but her anger against him for his persistent assumption of her +acquiescence in his suit was all forgotten; she remembered only the +happy side of their friendship, and that he was Betty's brother. She +could not put aside the appeal in Colborn's letter, for it was an appeal +from Richard himself; and yet what could she, a mere girl without aid or +influence, do to set him free? That was why her hands were clenched and +she paced her floor with quick steps. Then at last she sat down, and +opening her portfolio she wrote for half an hour, covering sheet after +sheet. When they were done she gathered them up quickly and ran +downstairs and crossed the street to the opposite house. There all was +sadness and tears because of Colborn's news. + +"Here, Betty," she said, placing the folded sheets upon the table; +"Eustace Singleton is on Lord Cornwallis's staff and must have influence +with him, and through him, with General Clinton. I have written Eustace +to use all effort and despatch in Richard's behalf, but you must add a +postscript to make the plea effective." + +"And why, I pray you, should he heed a postscript from Betty?" asked her +mother, angrily, forgetful for a moment of her grief. + +"Because," Joscelyn answered, facing her calmly, "he loves her, and the +few words she writes will outweigh all my pages." + +"What! That Loyalist, the son of Joseph Singleton, our old enemy, in +love with my daughter? This is some mockery." + +"It is the sober truth." + +"I do not believe it; but if it be so, then will Richard and I have a +word to say in the matter. Betty, put down that quill; I will not have +you stoop to ask a favour of that family." + +"Not even for Richard's life and freedom, Aunt Clevering?" + +"I do not believe he has any influence. In love with my daughter--what +impudence!" + +"Rather what good fortune, since it may save your son." + +"Mother, it seems our one chance; bid me write." And Joscelyn joined in +the girl's plea. + +The older woman's features worked spasmodically, but presently she +nodded slowly. "For Richard's sake, Joscelyn, yes; but mind you, Betty +will set him out in short order if ever he presumes to declare himself. +She knows her duty; no Singleton blood comes into my family." + +She could not see Betty's face, for Joscelyn stood between them; but two +weeks later Eustace kissed the blots where the tears had fallen just +under her pleading little postscript:-- + + "Because of all you said to me in Joscelyn's parlour, because of + your red roses which I wore in the privacy of my room until they + faded, I beseech you, save my brother!" + +"But oh, Joscelyn, suppose he can do nothing?" + +"Then, dear, we must carry our plea to Lord Cornwallis. My father and he +were friends in England; perhaps we may gain his ear through that +old-time acquaintance." + +"And how will you reach Cornwallis?" Mistress Clevering asked +doubtfully. + +"If need be, Betty and I will seek him in General Clinton's camp." + +Betty put her cheek close to the girl's. "Joscelyn, after all you are +not indifferent to Richard," she whispered, half wistfully, half +joyously. + +But Joscelyn's face was almost stern. "This letter from Colborn is in +truth a plea from Richard, since he must have bid the man write. Think +you I could let such a thing pass unanswered--and from your brother, +too?" + +"God bless you, Joscelyn, though your heart is as hard as flint." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +AN AWAKENING AND A MUTINY. + + "I can bear scorpion's stings, tread fields of fire, + In frozen gulfs of cold eternal lie; + Be tossed aloft through tracts of endless void-- + But cannot live in shame." + --JOANNA BAILLIE. + + +Besides the patrol and the ship's long-boat only one other ever tied up +to the prison-vessels, and that one belonged to Dame Grant, the bumboat +woman, who brought such small luxuries as the prisoners were able to +purchase. She herself seldom came on board, but sent up her tiny parcels +by two boys who made their deliveries under the eye of the warden. This +was the woman Richard had hoped to bribe to aid his escape, but with +whom he had never found the smallest opportunity to speak at close +range. She was corpulent and coarse of feature, and the boys who served +her often felt the weight of her big hand; but Richard had once thrown +her a jest over the rail, and she had laughed good-naturedly, showing +that she had a soft side to her rough exterior. In the lining of his +ragged boot were the few coins Colborn had given him, but not so much as +a letter had he been able to bribe her to take. Often he cursed the +watchfulness of the sentinel, longing to send at least some little +message to those who thought of him in far-off Hillsboro'-town. + +The morning of his awakening from the despairing stupor in which nearly +two months had been passed, it so chanced that Dame Grant brought in her +boat a basket of pears. Very luscious they looked, for sun and dew had +kissed them lavishly; but only the guards could pay their price, so the +prisoners feasted with their eyes only. By and by, however, one of the +sentinels who had purchased some of the fruit went to attend to some +duty below, and left one of the pears on the rail of the deck. So +transparent was his action and so subtle the temptation, that it almost +seemed he had set a delicate trap for some unwary captive. If, indeed, +it was a trap, it caught its prey; for one of the prisoners, a poor old +man, starving, yet too ill to eat the mouldy biscuit and rancid meat +that was their daily portion, saw the tempting fruit and stole it, +hoping the owner would think it had rolled off into the water with the +rocking of the ship. But nothing escaped the argus-eyed watch; one of +the other sentinels saw him as he ravenously devoured it, and collaring +the trembling culprit carried him to the warden. He acknowledged the +theft, excusing himself on the plea of extreme hunger, and begged for +mercy. He might as well have asked for the sun, whose rays whitened the +deck and shimmered on the restless waves. + +"I will make an example of him that we may have no more thieving on this +ship. Order the prisoners out that they may see," commanded the warden, +a big-thewed fellow with the face of a bulldog. + +The culprit, whose age alone should have protected him, was stripped to +the waist and dragged to the middle of the deck, where he stood weak, +scarred, emaciated,--as pitiful an object as the sun ever shone upon. In +a wide circle about him were crowded the unwilling prisoners, their +faces scowling with a helpless rage; and behind these were posted the +guards with levelled guns. While the warden knotted his lash, Peter and +Richard, after a whispered consultation with those nearest to them, +stepped forward and touched their caps. + +"If you please," said Peter, acting as spokesman, "we will all of us +give something toward the price of the fruit, if you will spare this +man." + +The warden wheeled suddenly upon them and struck out with his whip, +barely missing Peter's head. "Back with you, an you want not the lash +upon your own backs, hounds that you are! The first man of you who stirs +again shall have his share of this pastime." The ferocity of his look +and voice quelled any further attempt at conciliation, and the prisoners +turned their faces sullenly away. + +"So it's delicacies your stomach craves, is it?" sneered the warden to +the trembling man before him. "Well, does that taste like pears--or +that--or that?" and the cruelly knotted lash swirled through the air, +and fell again and again upon the quivering flesh of the helpless +creature. The man staggered, screamed, reeled from place to place, and +finally fell. A harsh laugh answered his cries for mercy, and the lash +went on until the blood spurted from the livid welts upon his body, +while his groans were horrible to hear; and the prisoners groaned in +answer. But the warden's fury was aroused, and the blows fell until +insensibility mercifully came, and the man lay still in a pool of his +own blood. + +"So shall it fare with every thief among you!" cried the warden, +throwing the whip down and facing around the scowling circle. But he saw +there no intimidation, but a wrath that needed but a touch to burst into +a storm, and he was quick to take the warning. + +"Dismiss the prisoners below," he thundered to the guards, and went +swiftly to his own cabin. + +As Richard watched the cruel scene, something had stirred and then +suddenly snapped within him; the inert, despairing stupor was gone, and +in its place was a wild desire for action. Every nerve within him +quivered with a savage impulse to give the brutal warden blow for +blow--nay, two for one; that was what he wanted to do. His fingers +closed in a fierce grip, and only Peter's firm hand held him in his +place. + +"The guards would riddle you with bullets before you could get to him," +the latter whispered, under cover of that other terrible noise of the +flogging. + +"I have but once to die. Unhand me!" + +"Yes, but death here would be wasted. Wait." + +From that hour Richard was a changed man; the dulness of despondency was +gone, and in its place there had come a recklessness, a demon of +desperation, that nothing could still. + +"I shall not stay quietly here to be flogged or to rot with the fever +and starvation," he said to Peter, and his jaw was hard and square. "I +shall get away or I shall die in the attempt." + +Two days later the flogged man was sewed into his blanket and carried +away in the funeral-boat; and the malcontent of the prisoners broke out +in angry mutterings. Here Richard, who had been brooding over a plan of +escape, believed he saw his chance. By night his plan was laid; and when +the hatches were beaten down and they lay in serried rows in the +stinking hold, he went from man to man and told his scheme. It was to be +a mutiny, a direct revolt. At a given signal they were to rise in a +body, fall upon the guards, over-power them--kill them--and then pulling +up the anchor they were to run the ship to the open sea, beach her +somewhere on the Jersey coast if she gave signs of leaking, and take +their chance to hide along the shore until they could get away into the +interior. Richard was to head them, for in his voice and manner the men +recognized the spirit of a leader. He longed with something akin to +ferocity to strike the first blow at the warden. + +"And besides," he said, "since I have proposed the plan it is but meet +that I should assume the first risk. If I fall, Peter will take my +place. Jack Bangs here has been on the sea all his life, and knows the +coast hereabouts as we know our farms at home. What say you to giving +him charge of the ship and letting him choose his own sailing crew?" + +"Good; he is the man for the place." + +"Very well," said Bangs; "but we cannot go down the Jersey coast, for we +would have to pass too many posts of the enemy, besides the guns in the +New York harbour. We must steer east through the sound, and if the ship +is beached, it must be on the Connecticut or Rhode Island coast." + +"Very well; that is not so convenient, since it takes us far from our +army, but anywhere will be better than here." + +They counted every risk: the difficulty of disarming the guards, the +proximity of the other two prison-ships, the interference of the shore +patrol in their swift-sailing boat, the disabled and sailless condition +of their own vessel; but nothing turned them from their purpose. Every +detail of the plot was arranged when toward morning the men lay down for +a little rest and sleep. + +All the morning Richard scrubbed or cleaned as the guards bade, and then +sat on deck with his eyes alternately upon the sun and the ship. + +But toward the middle of the afternoon Richard noticed signs of +dissatisfaction among a few of the men near the stern, where there was +an improvised back-gammon board. They were evidently angry about +something. A quarrel at this spot was a daily occurrence, and occasioned +no surprise among the sentinels; but Richard guessed that some other +cause was at the bottom of this, and gradually made his way to Peter's +side. + +"'Tis Henry Crane," Peter whispered, and his close-shut fists showed an +emotion his face concealed. "He is jealous that the ship was given to +Bangs rather than to him, and he and some of his fellows--his old +crew--are threatening mischief." + +"Fool, to risk his neck and liberty for a damnable vanity!" Rising, +Richard crossed to the group of players, and sinking down upon the deck +gathered the dice into his hand as though to take part in the sport. + +"I play to win; and the man who fouls my game--for any cause +whatsoever--has me to answer to," he said with stern emphasis, his +fearless eyes fixed steadily on Crane's face. The man flushed and began +to mumble an answer, but the guard, passing, said sharply:-- + +"Since you cannot play without a row, break up the game." + +The players got up slowly. "You understand?" Richard said under his +breath, and Crane nodded surlily. + +The afternoon wore on and all remained quiet. Crane had evidently +thought better of his foolish jealously. It was growing late, and there +was going to be a high wind, and that was well, for it would set the +tide yet stronger in its outward sweep, and their flight would be all +the swifter. + +It lacked only a little while before the drum-tap. Richard got up and +stood with his face to the glowing west to take his last farewell of the +dream-girl with whom he kept his tryst each evening at this hour. + +"Good-by, sweetheart," he said in his inner consciousness. "I love you. +On your dear eyes I kiss you--so--" + +"Attention! First division carry down their bedding!" + +He wheeled; for he was in that first division. A quick glance about the +deck showed everything quiet as usual. Crane and a few others stood at +the far end of the deck awaiting their order to go down with the rest of +the bedding. This would take only ten minutes, then the drum-tap for the +roll-call and--death or liberty. + +[Illustration: "... THE PRISONERS LINED UP AND ANSWERED TO THEIR +NAMES."] + +Swiftly the first division seized their allotment of the bedding and +passed below. Knowing what was to follow, they did not lose a moment; +but, quick as they were, something happened up above. There was a sound +as of a struggle, a fierce cry, the report of a musket, all so close +together as to seem almost blended into one sound; and then the ship +writhed and quivered with the reverberation of the cannon on the upper +end of the deck. Richard sprang to the ladder, but thrust only his +head above deck when an order to halt, accompanied by a touch of steel +to his temple, brought him up with a pull. But a look showed him what +had happened. Crane and three others lay motionless upon the deck, and +the other two men who had stood with them were covered by the muskets of +the guards, while the warden leaned against the cannon ready to sweep +the deck with another shot should so much as a hand be lifted without +his orders. He was absolute master of the situation. A signal was run +up to the patrol boat, the two mutineers were bound and hurried away; +then the drum tapped for roll-call. But no one made any show of revolt. +With the guards aroused, the patrol alarmed, and that murderous cannon +ready to rake the deck, it had been the act of madmen to resist; so, +scowlingly and surlily the prisoners lined up and answered to their +names, and then marched below, their plans all gone wrong. Richard threw +himself down and sobbed like a child. The plot had failed through the +malice of one man. Crane, thinking everything was ready, and that the +men would all respond to the signal, gave it while Richard was below, +thinking thus to snatch the leadership and gain control of the whole +vessel. But the other men, watching only for Richard's signal, did not +comprehend or respond to this unexpected whistle, only the five who +stood immediately with Crane falling in with his plan. But even they +were not quick enough, for the sentinel upon whom they leaped had time +to cry out the alarm and discharge his gun, while the warden sprang to +the ever-ready cannon. + +Although the prisoners felt the warden's anger in many petty ways, no +other arrests were made; for the two captives took their punishment +heroically and told no tales, and inquiry of course failed to elicit any +information from the rest of the prisoners. + +"I cannot stay here--I will not!" Richard cried vehemently to Peter. "I +am going, and soon at that." + +"What is it you propose to do?" + +"I do not yet know, but I am going, or they shall kill me with a +rifle-ball instead of by slow starvation," he said doggedly. + +Then one night a month later, as they lay gasping for air in the black +hold, he unfolded a plan that made Peter's heart sick with dread and +uncertainty. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +INTO THE JAWS OF DEATH. + + "Let terror strike slaves mute; + Much danger makes great hearts most resolute." + --MARSTON. + + "Death, when unmasked, shows us a friendly face." + --GOLDSMITH. + + +"Rebels, turn out your dead!" + +The inhuman call came down the opened hatches, and the prisoners, stupid +with the foul air they had breathed all night, prepared to obey. So many +times they had heard the cry that they had grown callous to its coarse +brutality. + +It was the end of September, and the delayed equinoctial storm would +soon ravage the coast. For a week the sea-faring folk had been expecting +it; and now at last the great gale or the forerunner of it was upon +them, for all night the waves had been rolling in from the outside with +the sound of thunder. The ship had pitched and tossed and strained at +its moorings, while the living freight in its hold prayed that it might +break away entirely. The hatches, when lifted, showed no blue sky, but +gray clouds and scurrying mist wreaths. The men, coming up out of the +hot and fetid air, shivered a little in the stiff breeze on the deck, +then opening their mouths, drank it in like wine. The faces of the +landsmen had an added ghastliness from seasickness, but they were all +bad enough to look upon,--seamen and soldiers alike. In squads of six +they took their breakfast, eating by sheer force of resolution what they +loathed, that the hunger pains might not gnaw so hard. + +"How many dead this morning?" demanded the warden. + +"Two,--Drake and Cowles," answered Jack Bangs. + +"Nay, there are three, Master Warden," said Peter Ruffin, sadly; "I +found Richard Clevering lying stiff and stark beside me when I got up. +The bodies are there beside the capstan." + +The three were stretched upon the deck; the corner of Richard's blanket, +as if by accident, fell over the upper part of his face, but the mouth +below was blue and drawn. With an exclamation of surprise and sorrow +Jack Bangs crossed the deck and, lifting the blanket for a moment, +looked at the face beneath. Then, reverently replacing it, he made the +sign of the cross above the body, and speaking a few low words to Peter, +went away. The warden, who had watched the scene satirically, gave each +corpse a shove with his foot, cursing the while. + +"D--n 'em! had to die the worst day of the month, that the burial might +be the more troublesome!" He glanced at them again, gave each another +kick, and checked off their names in his book. "Here, fix these hounds +up, and cut your work short so they'll be in the ground before the storm +breaks." + +"If you please, may I go in the boat this morning? Clevering was from my +town, and I should like to pay him this last respect." + +"No." + +Peter knew better than to urge his plea, and so stepped quietly aside. +But the warden, noticing the slow motions of one of the men to whom he +had beckoned, shouted angrily, "Out of the way there, you infernal +snail, or I'll fix you so you'll go in the boat and stay!" + +Peter sprang into the man's place. "I will be very quick," he said, +touching his cap; and without another word wrapped one of the bodies +quickly in its coarse covering and took a few stitches with the needle +his comrade held out. He was so deft, and the lightning was so vivid, +that the warden grunted and let him go on. Under other circumstances he +would have been put in irons for insubordination. + +The stitches in Richard's blanket were few and slight, just enough to +hold it about the body. + +"What was the matter with that fellow? I never heard him say he was +sick," said one of the sentinels, stopping to look on. + +Peter's pulse stood still. "He has complained for some time of a pain +about the heart. All last night he tossed and rolled, and just before +the hatches were opened, he said to me that his time had come. He's +hardly cold yet," he added hastily, as the man bent as though to touch a +hand left exposed by a rent in the blanket. + +"Well, he'll have time enough to get cold in the ground," the warden +said, coming up behind, and mistaking Peter's words for a plea for more +time before the burial. + +"He was a sullen chap to whom I've been looking for trouble. I'll +warrant he gets not cold between this and the devil," the guard said, +giving the stiff body a parting kick. + +The waves tossed furiously, but the long-boat was launched, and two of +the guard took their places in it, while the man who was to assist Peter +at the graves followed to receive the bodies; for the sentinels never +touched them, partly through fear of contagion, and partly out of +contempt. The first two were finally lowered, and then came the moment +Peter had dreaded; those other two had been stiff and stark enough, but +he wanted no prying eyes looking on when he lifted this one, and so +before he bent over to Richard, he glanced down the deck and raised his +hand, quite casually, it seemed, to his face. Instantly, as though he +had been on the watch for a signal, Jack Bangs started a funeral hymn, +loud and wailing. + +"Stop that devilish howling!" roared the warden, wheeling around. + +Quick as a flash Peter, signing to his assistant, lifted the prostrate +figure at his feet and swung it over the side. The ropes grated on the +rail, and when the warden looked again, it was all over. Peter slid +instantly down one of the ropes, and he and his fellow grave-digger +untied the cords from the body and rolled it over beside the other two +in the bottom of the boat, the guards having their hands full to keep +the little craft from swamping in the waves. Then they cast off and +pulled for the shore. + +"What makes you look at that carrion so confoundedly straight and +scared," one of the soldiers asked Peter, sharply, noticing how often +his eyes went to the figure at his feet. + +Peter cursed himself inwardly, but he had been so afraid that the +blanket would rise and fall with a strong man's involuntary breathing +that he had watched it in a sort of fascination. Now he looked away, +answering slowly:-- + +"I have known him since he was a baby; he used to play with my little +boy that died, and so I keep thinking of those days." + +One of the men laughed scoutingly, but the other growled out, "Let the +fool have his fling, and give me a light, Carson; my pipe's gone out in +this cursed spray." And while their heads were close together, Peter +stretched his legs out over the body, that if so it lost for a moment +its rigidity, they might not see. + +It seemed to him an hour before the shore was reached and the landing +effected; then he and his assistant carried the bodies high up on the +sand. Richard's went first. + +"He is alive," Peter whispered, as they moved up the beach, "but if you +give the faintest hint of it here or on shipboard by word, act, or look, +I'll throttle you like a viper." + +"You need not threaten--I'm no peacher; and besides, I liked the lad, +and wish him well; but his chance is slim, and if he is taken, they will +torture him like the incarnate fiends." + +An officer from the patrol, strolling near the boat, called out:-- + +"How many to-day, Carson?" + +"Three." + +"That is an unusual haul; you are thinning them out fast." + +"Not half fast enough; looks as if the cursed dogs held on to life to +spite us." + +"Well, 'tis said that Howe will bring back plenty of recruits from the +French fleet to fill your gaps." + +"How is that? What is the news?" + +But Peter was listening eagerly, hoping to catch some bit of outside +information. The officer pointed to him with elevated eyebrows, and the +guard drove him with imprecations to his task. + +"Your shovel?--Well, there it is, you son of perdition! Go on, and mind +you be quick in hiding that carrion from the crows." + +Beside the boat, with guns cocked and ready, the three men then +talked over the war tidings, while thirty yards up the beach the two +grave-diggers fell to their task. Rapidly the two first graves were made +and the occupants laid therein with only a muttered prayer from Peter; +and so were closed two human chapters in the varying story of life. The +wind shrieked in from the sea, edged with foam or stinging sand caught +up at the water's edge, and the heavens were like a vast slaty canopy +torn now and then by jagged lightning flashes. The scene was a fit +setting for the mournful work in hand. Once or twice while the two +laboured, one of the guards walked over to look at them, and then +wandered back to the boat and his companions. + +Over the first two graves the sand was heaped high, forming, as far as +possible, a barrier for the third. Shallow that third grave was,--so +shallow that a man could scarce lie therein and be concealed; but so +it must be that the sand might not be too heavy on the body, and yet +seem to be piled up. Tenderly Peter lifted that last silent figure and +stretched it in the hollow made for it; then, while he still stooped, +he broke the frail stitches of the blanket, and snatching two pieces +of driftwood he put them crosswise over the head of the grave with their +ends on the edges. The hollow space below might contain enough air to +last a man a little while. + +"Stay, here is piece of hollow cane in the sand," said the assistant, +"keep one end of it over your mouth, Richard; we will leave the other +just out of the sand; in this way you can breathe longer.--So." + +"Quick, quick; the shovels! The guard is returning," cried Peter. + +It seemed to them that their shovels crawled, and yet they worked like +mad. If the guard got there before they finished, all was lost. Spadeful +after spadeful,--was ever a man so hard to cover? Another step and the +sentinel would be upon them, and the blanket scarcely hidden, and those +tell-tale boards and the cane yet in sight. It was a fearful moment. +Peter's heart stood still, and his comrade's hands were like ice. + +"What the devil are you so long about?" + +But it was only the angry voice that reached them; a blinding lightning +flash ripped the heavens wide open, and the wind with a demoniacal +shriek rushed down the beach, throwing the sand in a swirling cloud +about the on-coming man, making him stagger with its force and snatching +away his hat and rain coat. Half blinded, he raced down the sloping +stretch to regain his garments which more than once eluded him. Then in +the lull he came back swearing furiously; and finding the men leaning on +their shovels, he stuck his bayonet into each of the three mounds. Into +the third it penetrated only a little way; but he did not notice, for +the wind was again gathering itself for a fresh burst of fury. + +"Now then, get you to the boats!" he cried, standing behind them. + +Peter paused a moment and crossed himself reverently, saying in a loud +voice, "Your bodies to the earth, your souls to God's care; and may you +pass to liberty in the folds of the in-rolling fog." + +"Pass to hell and the devil! Get on, I say!" cried the guard, angrily, +as he struck Peter across the shoulders with his bayonet. And Peter, +having said his say, ran nimbly to the boat; and pushing it off, they +leaped in, and were soon toiling amid the breakers to reach the ship's +side. + +It seemed to Richard that long months passed while he lay motionless +under that weight of sand, breathing spasmodically through the bit of +reed. The drift-boards kept the pressure partially from his chest so +that he suffered very little. The guard's bayonet had grazed his leg +without piercing it, but the thirst in his throat was something +terrible. Peter's voice had penetrated through the boards and their thin +covering of sand, so that he knew the fog was following the wind from +the sea. It was for this he had hoped, and it was this Peter meant to +tell him in those last words. Dear old Peter; how he had tried to +dissuade him from this mad plan, and when that was impossible, how he +had risked his own safety to aid him. Richard felt the tears on his face +as he recalled his friend's unselfish offices. Several times during the +wait for a stormy day he had been on the point of giving up the whole +plan, lest it work a mischief for Peter; but the latter had said it +would mean only a day in irons for him, and that he was willing to risk +that much for his friend's liberty; it was for Richard himself that he +feared. But even death had a smiling face for Richard, compared to a +winter spent in the vile ship; and so the plan had gone on, and by +Peter's care he was lying here in his grave, accounted of the world as +dead. + +By and by his limbs began to cramp and ache. Through strong will power +he had kept them rigid during those terrible moments of examination and +removal from the ship. He would not have dared assay the plan had he not +known how superficial, through repetition, had become the warden's +inspection of the corpses--just a few questions and that savage kick. +Each time there had been a death during the past fortnight, he had +studied the details of the preparation and burial, until he was +convinced that he could carry his scheme to a successful close if only +Peter was allowed to be one of his sextons. + +As the minutes now passed, the ache in his limbs increased, for the +pressure of the sand was stopping the circulation. Then the dryness in +his throat grew and grew, until he could bear it no longer. Had he lain +there a year, or only a day? Slowly and cautiously he drew his hands up +to his breast, then higher, and finally placed the palms against the +board over his head. The first movement brought the sand in a shower +upon his shoulders; but after a while he worked it far enough back to +leave a crack between it and its fellow. This he could only feel, for +knowing the sand would strangle and blind him, he had not as yet taken +the blanket from his face, since moving it ever so little to receive the +reed into his mouth. Next, he slowly pushed the other board downward +until a rush of cold air told him he was once more in the world of +humanity, not forever sealed in the haunt of ghouls. Cautiously he +shoved the blanket from his face and looked up into the storm-hung +heavens. It was mid-afternoon, and he had thought it must be midnight. +Eagerly he drew in the air, cool and laden with moisture, and tried to +forget his aching limbs. He dared not stir yet lest the patrol should +see him. He must wait; and while he waited, how the moments lagged! + +The wind had fallen, but the waves still thundered on the shore, and the +lightning now and then raced along the clouds. Afraid to raise his head, +he could only lie still and stare straight above him into the square of +mist and clouds. With a great throb of joy he watched the gloom deepen. +He had not heard the sunset gun from the station down the beach, but the +fog would befriend him; so when he could no longer bear the straitened +position, he lifted his head and shoulders and looked around. The fog +was everywhere; scarcely could he see the tumultuous waves that +shattered themselves along the sand. He need wait no longer, no one +could see him now; and painfully and carefully he finally drew his +stiff limbs from under the sand. To stand at full length was not to be +thought of, but he rolled over and rubbed and stretched himself until +the cramp was relieved. Then he set himself to fill in and round up his +vacated grave; for Peter's sake he must do this, that no suspicion might +be aroused when the funeral boat brought its next cargo ashore. Swiftly +he worked, using a piece of the drift-board for a shovel, and crawling +from head to foot to be sure that all was right. His heart was full of +gratitude when at last it was finished, and, with a sigh of relief, he +threw the board aside and stood up straight,--a free man. + +But at this moment something came out of the fog from the shore side, +and as he steadied himself upon his feet, he found himself face to face +with a man. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +OUT OF THE SHADOW AND INTO THE SUN. + + "O God, it is a fearful thing + To see the human soul take wing + In any shape, in any mood." + --BYRON. + + +For one awful minute neither man moved; then the patrol, with the horror +in his face as of one who looks upon a thing of another world, gave a +hoarse scream which was swallowed up in the roar of the sea. Richard +did not know what an uncanny sight he made rising up from that grave +with his hair unkempt, his face like ashes, and a burial cloth still +bound about his jaws. He comprehended only that detection threatened, +and detection meant death. With one bound he cleared the grave between +them, and grappled with the guard. Under other circumstances he +would have been no match for the man, starved and weak as he was; but +desperation--that fierce, mad desire to live--gave him strength. It +was not so much he as that aroused demon within him that gave back the +patrol's blows, struck the gun from his hands, and finally gripped him +about the throat. Not a word was said, not a cry was uttered, as they +tossed and swayed backward and forward, to the right or left, sank on +one knee and rose again to stagger and struggle anew. If Richard could +keep that strangling hold, the fight was his, and with it the liberty +for which he longed; if the other man could break it, then life would +pay the forfeit. Doggedly he hung on, though his fingers strained and +his head reeled, while the other beat him about the body and shoulders +with blows that began to lose their force, for that iron grip upon his +windpipe was telling at last. Richard was literally choking the life +out of him. Backward he went--backward--until the muscles in his chest +swelled, and the joints of his back and shoulders cracked--still +backward, with everything dark before him. Then suddenly his knees +collapsed, and he went down to the sand in a shapeless huddle. But even +then Richard did not let go his hold; deeper, and yet deeper his fingers +sank into the flesh under them, until not a quiver was left in the +insensible limbs. Then finally he stood up and looked upon his work. + +God! he had committed murder. + +[Illustration: "FOR A LONG MINUTE HE STOOD THERE, TREMBLING, +HORROR-STRICKEN."] + +For a long minute he stood there, trembling, horror-stricken; then the +self within him cried out, and he roused up to thought and action. That +dead body would tell its own disastrous tale when the relief watch came; +should he bury it here in his own grave? Yes, that cheated sepulchre +should have its inmate; and he reached for the board. But no; there +would not be time; it would take hours to hide it, trembling and weak +as he was, something else must be done, something quick. Should he run +for the dunes and leave it where it lay? If found thus, search would be +made for the slayer; he would be setting the watch upon his own track. +He pressed his hands helplessly to his temples, staring meanwhile upon +the horror there at his feet. Then suddenly the explanation came: the +man's beat ended on a rock that dropped sharply into the water; he knew, +for he had noticed when he came ashore before with the funeral boat. +If he could throw the body down there, it would be thought the man had +walked off in the fog and gloom; no suspicion would be aroused, and he +would be free from pursuit. + +Shivering at the contact, he seized the body and dragged it along over +the shells and pebbles. Once or twice he lost his bearings in the short +journey, but a rising wind blew out trailing lengths of fog before him +and, aided thus, in a little while he reached his goal. But he could not +see the body enter the water; it would be like a second murder, and so +with eyes close shut he pushed it off and groaned in his soul to hear +the splash that came from below. + +"God bear witness that I did not want his blood upon my hands!" + +Then he looked away to the dunes and took one step toward them. But the +gun--it lay yonder by the graves; he might as well have left the body +itself there. Hastily he returned, smoothed over the sand where the +struggle had fallen, and seizing the man's gun and hat, he sped again to +the rock, placing them near the ledge, that they might seem to have been +dropped there in an attempt at self-preservation. Then he was free to +go. Into the fog he plunged, making for where the sand-dunes rose; and +as he tottered down into the underbrush beyond, he heard the sunset gun +from the station boom out through the mist. He had lived a whole +lifetime in the last half hour. + +It had been his plan to cross the island and seek some means of escaping +to the Jersey coast from the south-side villages, but the fog hid +everything, and he seemed walking in a circle. He was weak from +excitement and lack of food, and after stumbling blindly onward for a +while, he turned to the left and kept on a parallel with the coast, the +boom of the surf being his guide; but always he kept the sound far +enough away to avoid the sentinels from the patrol. The fog had turned +into a rain, cold and depressing, and so after walking an hour or two he +was willing to risk something of danger for food and rest. He had passed +several houses but had kept aloof through fear; now, however, he bent +his steps to a tiny light burning ahead. + +It was a fisherman's cottage close to an inlet that jutted in from the +bay, and as good fortune would have it the old man, detained by the +storm, was just getting home. Even in the little harbour the swell was +unusually strong, and the man was having much difficulty in beaching his +boat, so that Richard's aid was most timely. + +"Who are you, my friend?" the fisherman asked, when everything was snug +and taut. + +"A traveller who has lost his way." + +The old fellow squinted his eyes for a closer look. "A traveller? Well, +'tis enough; we never ask names, my old woman and I, for in such days as +these a man's name is ofttimes his most secret possession. We know not +the rights of this war, and so we take no sides, but pray that justice +may conquer. Now, how can I pay you for your help?" + +"By giving me food and shelter." + +"That will I, for without you I should have lost my whole day's take and +that had been a terrible mishap. Fry an extra fish, mother," he called +into the cottage. + +"Ay, two of them, good mother. I pray you; for I am as a ravening wolf +seeking what I may devour," Richard said, putting his head in at the +door; and his voice was so bonny that the old woman filled the skillet +with a lavish hand. And in that firelit hut he ate the first palatable +meal he had had since Monmouth day. Then he set himself artfully to +persuade the fisherman to take him down the Sound in his boat. + +"Nay, I never go now, the journey is too much for me; and besides I must +go to-morrow to the camp to sell my fish. But the soldiers go and come +between here and New York every day; if you will come with me to the +camp, I will get you company." + +But Richard evaded the invitation. After a while the old woman said: +"There is Dame Grant who lives just over the inlet, she goes down the +Sound day after to-morrow to see her people,--she hath recently heard +that her niece hath a new baby (a fine girl weighing ten pounds in its +skin and to be named for the dame), mayhap you could find passage with +her." + +But again Richard shook his head, shuddering inwardly at the thought +that the old woman might recognize him and be tempted by the standing +reward for escaped prisoners to give him again into captivity. He would +find some other way, he said, and talked of the fishing in the Sound. +When the old man's pipe was smoked out they went to bed, and in spite of +that haunting scene beside the wind-swept graves, Richard slept +profoundly through the night hours. Waking before the old couple in the +gray morning, he crept down from the loft, and raking together the coals +upon the hearth, he breakfasted on the remains of last night's supper, +then stole out into the wet and sombre world. + +How sweet it was to breathe the early air and feel the earth beneath his +feet, and have the weeds and underbrush rap him about the knees as he +pushed away to the interior! The fisherman's hut was a league behind him +when he saw the east redden with the rising sun, for the besom of the +storm had swept the heavens clear. What a wonderful light threaded the +woods and glorified the tree-tops, sparkling and changing with every +motion of the boughs! Often he had seen it among his native Carolina +hills, this opaline opening of the morn, but never before with such a +thrill of appreciation, such a rush of exquisite joy. + +"Good morning, Joscelyn; I am a free man to-day." And he bowed as though +he had been in a ball-room, and picking a bit of blossom that nodded at +him, he stuck it jauntily in his ragged coat. + +If it had not been for that dead face playing hide-and-seek always among +the bushes about him, he could have whistled as he walked. Now and then +he sighted houses and cultivated fields, but he kept to the woods; not +until he reached the sea on the other side of the island would he +venture to show his face at a door. There were wild grapes in the +thickets and sweet beach mass to eat; and a little past noon he found a +late melon in the weeds of a fence corner, and feasted like a lord. + +But half a mile farther on, his pleasure was forgotten in a keen +excitement, for from a slight eminence, he saw the plain stretching to +the right and left white with the tents of soldiery; and not ten paces +from him a sentinel, with his back this way, sat on a fallen tree and +read a letter. A few more steps, and he would have been in the hornets' +nest,--a helpless captive. Instantly he dropped upon his knees, and +crawled into the brush as stealthily as a creature of the jungle. He had +evidently come too far west in his flight, for this was a part of +Clinton's army, quartered here within easy reach of New York. Far away +to either side the tents reached, dotting the whole expanse of country. +To turn either wing looked like an impossibility; it would take him days +to skirt those picket posts to the east; and on the west, he knew from +what the fisherman had said that they must reach even to the hamlet +whence the boats went daily to New York. To take that route meant a sure +and swift destruction, since he would be thrusting himself into the very +toils he longed to avoid. His one chance seemed to be a retreat the way +he came, and then to beat his way to the northeast along the coast of +the Sound, and get over to the Connecticut side on some fishing-boat. He +would be weeks--perhaps months--longer in reaching Washington or home, +but better that a thousand times than certain capture. He reasoned it +all out carefully, lying under the thicket, and then lingered a few +minutes to envy the unconscious sentinel his letter, for of course it +was from home. How long it had been since he had heard aught of his +loved ones--three weary months! + +Downcast and disheartened, he returned along his own trail, and in the +early twilight heard the boom of the surf ahead of him. But he had +missed his way somewhat, and came out of the brush on the side of the +inlet across from the fisherman's hut. He found he would have to walk an +extra mile or two to get back to that shelter for the night. He sighed +and turned, but just at that moment there flashed upon his sight a light +from a window some fifty yards down the inlet, and on the same side with +himself. + +Stay; this was Dame Grant's hut, and she went to-morrow to the Jersey +shore to visit her kin. + +He did not go back around the head of the cove, but turned instead into +the field before this other hut, whose friendly light was winking at him +through the dusk. His resolution was taken, for good or ill. + +Evidently the dame had company, for there was the sound of voices and +laughter on the water front of the little house; and Richard stood still +with a tingling sense of pleasure,--it had been so long since he had +heard people laugh joyously and heartily, that the sound came like the +echo of something loved but almost forgotten. Between a hayrick and the +fence he finally lay down to wait; and while he waited he slept, for +when he awoke the hut was silent, although the light still burned at the +window. The chill of autumn was in the air, and he shivered as he +crossed the enclosure and stood looking into the lighted room. It was a +pleasant scene: the two boys slept upon a wooden bench, but the dame sat +by the table, busy with a piece of bright-hued patchwork, and Richard +took heart of grace that she smiled as she sewed. From his ragged +boot-leg he had taken Colborn's gold piece, and now he used it to tap +lightly on the small, diamond-shaped pane. The dame looked up in +surprise to see a hatless man at her window; but he smiled cheerily and +beckoned, holding the gold piece against the glass that she might see +it. For a moment she looked at him frowningly, then the glitter of the +gold won her, and she got up and opened the door. + +"What want you at this hour of the night at an honest woman's house?" + +"I want an honest conversation with an honest woman, therefore came I to +your door, knowing where to find both. In all true faith and respect I +am here; so come, good mother, ask me in. Without your bidding I will +not enter, for I would not wilfully intrude upon the privacy of a lady." +He bowed low, clicking his heels as neatly as though he were her partner +in a minuet. + +"Go along with your fine ways," she said, but she laughed. + +"No ways can be too fine for a lady." And he took her hand and kissed it +with the air of a prince, clicking his heels again in that military +salute. + +"You young impudence! leave go my hand--you'll find it heavy enough on +your ear presently. I'll warrant you have it in mind to fleece me out of +something, so say your say and be done with it," but there was no real +anger in her voice. + +"Nay, I am no highwayman nor money beggar; for that which you do for me +I will pay you well," he answered, again holding up the gold piece. "But +would you not be more comfortable sitting?" He waved his hand toward the +chair she had quitted, and the fine courtesy of his tone again called +forth her laugh; but she took the hint and, turning, bade him enter. + +"Well, where do we begin?" she said, when they were seated. + +"My mother always begins by asking a stranger to have something to +eat--and you have bonny blue eyes like hers," he answered, with boyish +audacity, pushing back her loose sleeve and patting the fat arm. + +"'Tis a good place to start," she answered, shoving him off; and would +have called the boys to serve him, but he held her back. + +"I wish no one but you to hear what I have to say. You may trust me--I +swear it." So she opened the cupboard herself and brought out plenty of +cold food. Richard ate ravenously, praising everything (for in truth it +had a heavenly taste), and telling her how blue her eyes were, and how +pretty her patchwork--just like what his own mother used to make. + +"A bit of a quilt for a bairn just born," she said, and smoothed it with +her great hands. + +And Richard asked the child's name, and said it had a sweet sound, and +hoped it would have blue eyes with a twinkle in them like her own. And +while he ate and talked she watched him narrowly. He knew it, but he did +not care. Presently she said, as one asserting a fact:-- + +"You are from one of the prison-ships." + +He nodded, smiling; and his frankness evidently pleased her, for she +nodded back. "That's right; no use to lie about it. I knew I had seen +your face somewhere. How did you get away?" + +"That is the one thing I cannot tell you, good mother, for it would +implicate the man who helped me, and not even for your favour--though +God knows I want it bad enough--will I betray my friend." + +"Right again; hold fast to the man who holds to you; I like to see folk +grateful." + +Then he told her how he wanted to go in her boat to the Jersey shore, +and how it was he happened to know her plans. But she shook her head; +the risk was too great. + +"There will be no risk at all. You are so well known to the soldiers at +the different posts that you will never be questioned. It would be but +natural for you to take some one stronger than your boys to help you in +making so long a voyage. Find me but a coat and hat, and no one will +give me a thought, for I know how to hold my tongue when occasion +calls." + +But still she refused. Her passport called but for three, and she was +not going to run her head into a noose for all his fine speeches and +petting ways--for he had squeezed her hand and patted her gray hair +while he talked. + +He would not listen to her refusal; if she did not take him, he was +lost. And he got hold of her other hand, and in pathetic words described +to her the agony he had suffered on the vessel; and then he dropped his +head on the table and almost sobbed as he told her of Joscelyn and his +yearning to see her. + +"Oho, a sweetheart, is it?" asked the old woman, with aroused interest. + +"Yes, as bonny a girl as you ever set eyes upon. And think you, +good dame, of your own young days, of the time when the lads were +at your beck and call,--for I warrant me those blue eyes broke many +hearts,--would you not have been grateful if your lover had been in +peril and some one had saved him for you?" + +The dame chuckled. "Ay, ay, I had my fling with the lads, I did." + +"It goes without the saying. And there was one among them whom you +loved?" The brown face grew suddenly very tender as with the shadow of a +memory. "Then for the sake of him save Joscelyn's sweetheart for her." + +But still she shook her head, and for a minute Richard was in despair. +Then he began all over again, adding the gold piece to his argument. +Thus for half an hour the plea went on, and just as he felt that he had +failed, she suddenly nodded her head decisively, that softened light +again shining in her face. + +"One of the boys shall bide at home, and you may go in his stead, since +you are so set on it; but mind, you help with the boat, and I have the +gold." + +"That and Joscelyn's love shall be yours, you dear, bonny dame!" he +cried rapturously, seizing her about the shoulders and kissing her +heartily on either red cheek. + +"Get out! Of all the lads I ever saw, you have the freest manners." +But the shove she gave him had in it no roughness. He had set her to +thinking of her own youth and of a lad who had gone to sea one morning, +kissing his hand to her, but had never come home again, though she had +waited for him for many a day through shine of sun and wail of storm. +Through all her life a woman's first love is a touchstone to her +sympathy, an open sesame to her tenderness; neither as maid, nor yet as +wife, does she ever quite forget that first sweet spell upon her heart. +Dame Grant scarcely saw the man beside her, but for sake of that other +lad, whom nobody had been able to help far back in the years that were +dead, she would save this other girl's lover. + +In an hour their preparations were made. From the loft of her hut the +dame brought down a leather jerkin and a battered hat, and after her +scissors had gone over Richard's head, he was metamorphosed so that +even she herself would scarcely have recognized him. + +"You'd be a fine figure of a man if those wretches on the ship had not +starved the shape out of you." + +"My mother always said that in the way of beauty Providence had done +more for my legs than for my face," Richard laughed. + +"Well, the warden hath undone the job, for thy breeches hang like a +scarecrow's. Now up into the loft with you, and find some straw whereon +to sleep. 'Tis close upon midnight, and we start with the sun." + +But Richard was too full of joy and excitement to sleep much, and so +when the dame and her boys came out the next morning, they found him +sitting beside the boat, pulling on his boots after a plunge into the +cold salt water. The feeling in his breast was indescribable when at +last, after many injunctions to the boy who was left, they drew out of +the cove into the open bay, in the pearl and purple morning, and he knew +his journey was begun. + +They went somewhat out of their way that Dame Grant might leave some +parcels at the patrol station, their course taking them within a hundred +yards of the three prison-ships rocking in the bay. At first Richard +turned his eyes away with a sickening sense of pain and rage, then +looked eagerly to see if he might recognize Peter on the deck. Yes, +there he was, near the stern; Richard knew him from his height and from +the cap he wore, and he had to hold his teeth clenched to keep from +crying out to him. How dismal and condemned the three hulks looked, +despite the transfiguring touch of the morning! And over there on the +strand was his grave, the spot to which his mother's thoughts would make +many a sorrowful pilgrimage if so the news of his death should outrun +him to the Carolina hills. + +At the station one of the guards remarked on the fact that the dame had +a new hand aboard. + +"Yes; Henry's stomach's apt to go back on him in rough weather, and at +this season o' the year we are like to get into a blow any time, so I +left him and brought a stronger man. It turns my blood to see Henry +heaving and gagging when he ought to be shortening sail." + +"Well, yon fellow hasn't much the look of a sailor," said the man, eying +Richard suspiciously as he was making awkward attempts to pull in a +flapping sail. + +"Oh, he isn't showing off, but he suits me well enough," the dame +answered, with a warning side look at Richard, who instantly gave better +heed to his task. Nothing but her coolness saved him, for the guard's +word, coming so suddenly, had made him go very white. + +Then a pæan of praise went singing itself through his heart, for the +parcels were delivered, and pushing off from shore the boat sailed out +of the bay and turned her nose to the west. Down the narrow waterway +between Long Island and the city of New York they sailed all the +morning, stopping here and there at signals from patrol stations to +show their passports. But at none of these places were they detained +very long, for Dame Grant had looked carefully to such matters, and so +noon found them in a wide bay to the south of the city. No misfortune +had befallen Richard, for he had kept a still tongue at every stopping +place. In the afternoon the breeze quickened, and they went racing away +before it toward the ever growing shore-line ahead, and in the gloaming +they landed at a little hamlet on the Jersey side of the bay. + +High up on the beach the boat was pulled and tied to a stake, and then +while the boy was gaping about him, Richard went back to the boat side +and took the dame's big hand in his:-- + +"You have kept your contract, and the gold is yours; God bless you for a +good, true woman!" he said, leaving the coin in her palm. + +But she thrust it back vigorously: "Nay, I will none of it; I but put it +in the bargain to test you. You have paid me twofold by your labour and +your good gratitude. Tell your Joscelyn that I send you to her as a +gift, and bid her use you well." + +Nothing could prevail upon her to touch the coin, and so at last Richard +turned away. + +"Hist!" she said, holding him a moment, "'tis said there is a +Continental force near Brunswick; keep to the southwest." + +"Thank you, and God keep you!" And the gathering shadows swallowed him +up. + +At that very moment, on board the prison-ship _Good Hope_, Eustace +Singleton was listening to the story of his death from the obsequious +warden, and wondering how he was to write it to Betty. + +And far away in Hillsboro' Joscelyn and Betty were going slowly home in +bitter disappointment, after seeing the post-rider distribute his few +letters, and finding there was nothing for them. How many and how long +had been the weeks since they wrote to Eustace; for then it was +summer-time, and now the red and ochre tints of the autumn flamed in the +woodlands. And still Betty cried, and still Joscelyn counselled +patience. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +"KISS ME QUICK AND LET ME GO." + + "And to his eye + There was but one beloved face on earth, + And that was shining on him." + + +It was a windy day in late November, one of those rare days when summer, +repenting of her desertion, steals softly back to comfort the earth with +a parting smile. Out in the brown fields the birds pruned their wings in +the sun and sang a few notes softly, as a singer who recalls fitfully +and doubtfully a long forgotten tune; the golden daisies by the door +still burnt like stars late fallen from the far firmament; a revivified +butterfly hovered languidly over the faded aster beds, and venturesome +wasps sallied from their castles under the eaves and buzzed droningly +against the window panes. It was a day of shifting shadows, of subtle +changes and soft surprises. + +Joscelyn and Betty sat over their embroidery frames in the latter's +parlour, talking over the events of the past two months--the long wait +between their letter to Eustace and his sorrowful reply; the grief that +clouded the two houses for four days following, before they knew that +Richard had escaped and was not dead, and the intense relief and joy +his short message had brought them. + +"It was like a hundred candles suddenly brought into a dark room," Betty +said, snipping off her thread. "But do you know, Joscelyn, that you +acted so queerly, scolding because you had cried so much, and cocking +your head before the mirror to count the wrinkles your grieving had +made,--though for the life of me I could never see one of them,--that I +half believed you were angry that Richard had not died in truth." + +"You give me credit for much feeling, I am sure," quizzed Joscelyn. "But +in sooth, Betty, when a woman gets circles under her eyes, and crow's +feet at the corners of her mouth, and a dismal whine to her voice +through over-much sighing, she likes to know it has not been all in +vain. Wasted grief is like wasted sweets--useless." + +"I would to heaven all grief were useless and in vain." + +Joscelyn shook her head. "That would not do; for without grief there +would be no pity, and without pity there would be no love, and life +without love were not worth the living." + +"Love? What do you know of love?" Betty asked, looking up quickly. + +"You vain little minx! do you think Cupid wasted all his arrows on you +and Eustace?" + +"N-o; but Joscelyn--" + +"'But, Joscelyn,'" mimicked the other, still laughing; "from the doubt +in your voice one would think you were own daughter to that biblical +Thomas whose faith was so small. Trust me, Cupid has saved a shaft in +his quiver for me." + +"You are such a queer girl, Joscelyn; one never knows how to take you. +You sorrowed for Richard so vehemently at first--do you--can you mean +that you care just a little for him?" + +"My dear, I was much more in love with Richard dead than I am ever like +to be with Richard alive. You see, Death is not unlike charity: it +covers a multitude of faults." + +"You heartless creature!" + +And Betty got up and took her frame to another window. But she could +never stay angry long, partly because of her gentle disposition, and +partly because she knew that much of Joscelyn's seeming heartlessness +was in truth but mischievous banter; and so their heads were close +together again very soon, while their needles wrought silken poppies or +blue-eyed violets into the meshes of canvas on their frames. + +And while they thus talked and sewed, a horseman came galloping down the +streets. A great commotion followed in his wake; for he rode with a free +rein and so rapidly withal that his horse's hoofs struck sparks from the +loose stones of the street. Straight to Mistress Clevering's door he +went, and springing down stayed not to knock or parley, but entering +without ceremony and meeting the astonished lady in the hall, hugged +her with a will. + +"Why--it is--Richard--Richard!" + +Her voice was half choked with giving back his kisses, but it reached +the two girls in the parlour who, startled at first into silence, threw +down their needles and rushed headlong into the hall, and, before they +realized it, were kissed by the newcomer in a rapturous greeting. + +Joscelyn's cheek burnt scarlet under his lips, but so glad was she to +see him safe after all their anxiety that she submitted without protest. +In faith, it was over so quickly, there had been no time for resistance. +Devouring her with his eyes, he tried to retain her hand when the +greeting was over, but after a moment she slipped it, not unkindly, from +his grasp, and presently when he had told them briefly of his marvellous +escape, she ran over to give her mother the news and to see if there was +not a piece of his favourite cake in the cupboard. A warm tingle was in +her veins, and she put her hand up to the cheek he had kissed. How +pleasant it was to hear his voice in the house. If he would only leave +the war alone, and--and quit making love to her, she would be so fond of +him; they used to be excellent comrades before these two things came +between them. + +Thinking thus, she put a napkin over the cake and turned to leave the +pantry; but Richard, under pretext of speaking to her mother, had +followed her, and now stood in the door barring her exit. + +"Joscelyn, how good it is to see you again! Have you thought of me?" + +"'Twould have been impossible not to think of you with nothing else +being talked of in the house these two months past." + +"But have you missed me?" + +"Why, we miss anything to which we have been accustomed." + +"And you sorrowed for me?" + +"Truly, Richard, I should be a most hard-hearted girl not to sorrow over +such suffering as has been yours." + +"God bless you!" He was so full of joy over the meeting that he did not +notice the lack of love-warmth in her voice, but when he would have put +his arm about her, she pushed him off with quiet decision. + +"Nay, Richard, do not begin that. You told your mother just now that you +had but three hours to stay with us; let us not waste a single moment of +the time in a useless love-making." + +"But you kissed me for greeting." + +"Nay, sir, 'twas you kissed me," she said, with a shimmer of laughter +over her face like sunlight upon dancing water. + +"Listen, sweetheart," he said, coming very close to her, his head +swimming with the soft intoxication of her presence; "we may have but +these few minutes together, but I want you to know that it was the +thought of you that kept me alive in that vile prison and finally nerved +me to escape. But for you,--for the fierce longing to see you, to touch +you,--I should have stayed there and died like a rat." + +"Eustace did all he could," she broke in, "but our letter was long in +reaching him, for General Clinton had sent him to help repel the attack +on Rhode Island, and he did not return to New York for more than a +month." + +"I know, and some day I shall thank him; but he could not have effected +my release or exchange, only bought a little favour from my hard +jailers, and I cared not for that kind of obligation from one of his +name. It was you--the memory of your dear face--that steeled my nerves +and broke my bonds. There is a species of numbing despair that comes +upon a man sometimes over which a great love alone can triumph." + +She put her hand upon his arm, for there was a pathos in his voice that +touched her deeply; "Richard, I wish I loved you." + +"And so you shall, and do," he cried; and instantly the tender spell +upon her was broken, for in his tone and manner was the old arrogance +and sureness that she so much resented. He felt the change, and said +pleadingly, "The fisherwoman who rescued me said at parting, 'Tell your +Joscelyn to use you well.' Are you so soon forgetting her injunction?" + +"Nay; she was a good woman, and I shall pray for her." + +"Love me instead--'twill be truer gratitude." + +But his mother and Mistress Cheshire were in the hall, and so for answer +Joscelyn pushed him through the door; and he went out to the older +women, munching a bit of sweet cake like a boy. + +By this time the neighbours were all collected about the door, eager to +hear of absent sons and husbands; and he went out to them and answered +questions, and took messages and told anew the story of his escape, but +with such omissions of names as to throw no suspicion on Dame Grant, if +so the story found its way back to the north. + +"And in writing to Peter," he said to Patience and her mother, who were +grief stricken at his story, "say only that Dick Clevering told you +where he was; he will understand, and anything else might arouse the +warden's suspicions and bring punishment upon him." + +He thought they would never have done with their inquiries and their +bemoanings, so short was his time and so eager was he for one more word +with Joscelyn. At last he said:-- + +"And now, my friends, I will carry as many letters as my pockets can +hold, but they must be writ in short shift, for in an hour I go on my +journey and shall not return this way when once I set my face +northward." + +And so they went away,--some to prepare their missives, others out of +delicacy, feeling his own people must have him to themselves. + +"Tell us all about your journey's purpose, Richard," said Betty. + +"No, sister; a soldier's mission is not his property. Suffice it +for you to know that another man, Dunn by name, and I go through the +Carolinas, perhaps so far south as Savannah, on business for the +commander-in-chief. He cannot weaken his present force by detaching any +number of men to aid the southerners, but he wants to put them on their +guard against the force Clinton is sending by sea from New York; and +also to learn accurately the strength of the cause in these parts." + +"And where is Master Dunn?" + +"He stopped for a few hours over the Virginia line to see his wife, and +I rode the livelong night that I might have this glimpse of you. +Methinks I should almost have deserted to come back for a look at you +all, had I not persuaded Dunn to choose me on this expedition." + +"And where are you to meet him?" + +"At Charlotte, three days hence." + +"When Eustace--when Master Singleton,"--Betty corrected herself, with a +vivid blush, "wrote, saying you were dead, mother and I were like to go +crazy with grief. He wrote it kindly, but for two days mother did not +leave her bed." + +"And what did Joscelyn say?" + +"Oh, Joscelyn cried till her eyes were all red and puffed, and reminded +us how you and she used to ride and read and walk together without even +so much as a sharp word until the war talk came on. She did much to +comfort mother." + +"God bless her! But you were not long in suspense?" + +"No; but mother had already prepared to have a service in your memory, +and Janet and Patience had practised the hymns." + +"Well, there was at least a grave to sing over," laughed Richard; but +his mother was crying, even to think of those sad hours. + +"How thin you are!" she said, feeling his arms tenderly. + +"Well, mother, when a man has been in his grave, 'tis not to be expected +that he will look like one of the fatted kine. But I am plump as a rosy +Cupid compared with what I have been; and this reminds me that I am +hungry for some of your good cooking; do you and Betty get me up a bit +of dinner while I look to my horse." + +But he knew his horse had been cared for, and instead of the stable, it +was Joscelyn's door he sought. + +"I have but a little while left," he said; "come and sit with us, that I +may not lose sight of you for one of those blessed minutes. I am as a +thirsty man with the cup held ever out of his reach." + +"I thought you would wish to talk with your mother and sister alone." + +"There is nothing I tell them that I would not quite as willingly trust +to you; for though you are a Loyalist, yet you are loyal to your +friends," he said, smiling at his own pleasantry, and she laughed too. +Long afterward those words came back to him with a pang. + +As they crossed the street Mistress Strudwick hailed them from the +sidewalk. "Hey, there, Richard! you are keeping bad company and will +fall under suspicion, consorting with that young Tory," she cried. "Are +your despatches in the pocket next to her?--if so, beware!" + +"I have them in my heart, Mistress Strudwick." + +"Then in faith are they already Joscelyn's," laughed the old lady, +teasingly pinching the girl's cheek as the two came up to her. + +"Come, Mistress Strudwick, Richard wears not his heart on his sleeve." + +"But he pins it instead upon yours--which is quite as public. Ah, +Richard, she is a sad dare-devil!" and she went on to tell him of some +of the scenes of the past months. He had feared for her from the first, +and in his mother's parlour he caught her arm almost fiercely:-- + +"Are you mad that you jeopardize yourself in this way?" + +"Mistress Strudwick is over-alarmed; I can take care of myself," she +answered, a trifle hotly. + +But he was not satisfied; one word brought on another, and they were +nearly quarrelling when Betty came to say his dinner was ready. + +"Joscelyn," he whispered, with a sudden softening of manner as they went +down the hall, and he took her hand and laid in it a shining gold piece, +"this is all the gold I have in the world; it was to have paid the +price of my flight, but the fisherwoman would not have it. Keep it for +me till the war is done--I have a special purpose for it." + +After dinner the neighbours came with their letters and farewells, and +he had no further talk alone with Joscelyn. She bade him a very gentle +good-by, however, and ran across to her own balcony opposite, while he +comforted his mother and Betty and said farewell to the assembled +friends. When he was mounted and had waved them a last adieu, he made +his horse curvet as though loath to start, and so brought up close to +the rail of the opposite balcony. + +"Joscelyn, keep the gold piece safe and in some hallowed place, for when +the war is done it shall be made into our wedding ring--'tis for that I +saved it. Good-by, sweetheart." + +And then he was gone as he had come, with a free rein and a ringing hoof +beat; and the crowd behind broke into small groups to discuss the news +he had brought, while the girl leaning on the veranda across the way, +turned a shining coin in her hand, looking at it pensively, with a +curious light in her eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE WEARING OF A RED ROSE. + + "She gives thee a garland woven fair, + Take care! + It is a fool's-cap for thee to wear, + Beware! Beware! + Trust her not. + She's fooling thee!" + --LONGFELLOW. + + +The winter that followed was a quiet one in Hillsboro'. Joscelyn sewed +at the flaming poppies of her embroidery during the mornings, rode with +Betty or Mary Singleton over the commons in the afternoons when the snow +was not too deep, and in the evenings played cribbage with her mother or +sang to the sound of her spinet in the fire-lighted parlour. Now and +then news of the outside strife came over the mountains or out of the +far reaches to the north and east; but the red wave of war spent itself +before it reached the inland town. Washington was jealously watching the +British in New York, and in the south the fate of Charleston was rapidly +being sealed, while now and then a soldier, coming home on furlough or +sick leave, brought tidings of the partisan warfare, ceaselessly waged +through the Carolinas and Georgia by Sumter and Marion and other bold +leaders; but Hillsboro', upon the Eno, dozed through the long winter +months. + +"This war is worse than tiresome; it's perfectly hateful," Janet +Cameron said, twisting her yellow curls about her fingers and pouting +disconsolately; "it is making old maids of us whether the men wish it +or not. Here I am, eighteen this coming Whitsuntide, and not a genuine +suitor have I had." + +"Fie, Janet! Where is Billy Bryce?" asked Joscelyn, in whose room the +two sat. "Billy has loved you from your pinafore days." + +"That baby?" with a scornful accent. + +"You did not use to think him such a baby." + +"Perchance not; for he is a whole six months older than I, and that is a +mighty age!" + +"What manner of lover do you want now?" + +"Oh, a grown man--a big strong fellow with a will of his own, who never +asks for a kiss, but just takes it." + +"You little minx! what know you of kissing menfolk?" + +"Nothing--that is just it--" + +"Janet!" + +"--for when Billy blushes like a peony, and politely and decorously begs +to kiss my cheek, I am in duty bound to look shocked, and blush back, +and say no; nothing else would satisfy my dignity, though I could pinch +him for it! That is why I call him a baby," stoutly maintained the girl, +her lips curling, and her voice full of mockery. + +"He does not wish to forget his manners." + +"To say always 'if you please' for tender favours is not the manners for +a lover." + +"Since you are so wise, tell me what sort of manners a lover should +have." + +"Oh, you know without the telling! He ought to be headstrong and +masterful and a--a bold robber when it comes to claiming favours from +his lady; and full of mock repentance after the theft." + +"Well, when Billy comes from the war, I shall give him a hint as to how +to mend his behaviour." + +"An you did, I should hate you. Why, he does not even know how to write +to a girl. Here is a letter from him in which he sends his duty to his +mother--did you ever hear of such idiocy? A love-letter with a message +like that! A love letter should be private and confidential, filled full +of such sweetness that one pair of eyes alone should read it; and he +sends his duty to his mother, forsooth! Why, that prying old creature +would insist upon reading every line written here if I gave her the +message--and Heaven knows she might, and be none the wiser, for all of +sentiment there is in it is this last sentence, 'I would send you my +love, an I dared; but I would not for the world make you angry or hurt +your maidenly modesty.' Now that is a love-letter for you!" + +"Well, it is not deliriously passionate," admitted Joscelyn. + +"It is deliriously idiotic. I'd just have him understand that my modesty +is not quite so thin-skinned as he imagines." + +Joscelyn fell back in her chair, shrieking with laughter, while the +yellow-headed tempest before the glass shook her curls, and emphasized +her words with a scouting gesture, "Why, Joscelyn, if I were that boy's +great-grandmother, he could not treat me with more deferential respect." + +"I think it is beautiful in him." + +"Beautiful! Well, I think it is _imbecile_! Hurt my maidenly modesty, +indeed!--one would think my modesty were a sore toe to be stubbed or +trod upon. Stop laughing, Joscelyn Cheshire; you are as stupid as +Billy." And when Joscelyn answered with another silvery peal, Janet, in +high indignation, flung out of the room and down the steps, her heels +clattering as she went; and the next morning her maid carried the +offending letter to Mistress Bryce with a sweetly worded note, saying +Billy had no doubt made a mistake in the address of his missive. And +Billy swore his first oath when he heard of it. + +Nor was Janet the only one who came to confessional in Joscelyn's room. +It was there that Betty found the only outlet for her secret joy. In +spite of the war and its sad consequences, the year had been such a +happy one--the sweetest year she had ever known; for it had been full of +dreams and fancies, of thrills and hopes. Even the self-reproach, with +which she sometimes tormented herself because of her mother, had in it +a touch of sweetness since it was linked with her love. The whole world +was as a new place; the winter snows held an unthought of revelation of +beauty, and each flower that budded to the spring sunshine was a fresh +creation bearing on its petals an unspelled message of love. She would +not write to Eustace, for that would be undutiful to her mother; but +Joscelyn's letters were filled with tender messages for her, with now +and then a little wafered note that burnt her fingers with a delicious +sense of forbidden fruit, and which she read and re-read in the privacy +of her white-curtained room, trembling and flushing at the story they +told,--the future they painted. + +But as the spring advanced, a shade of sadness crept over her happiness, +a film like the impalpable dust that gathers on a fine picture hanging +always in the light. Eustace had ceased to write. Two months had gone +by, and no word had come from him. A strange, new fear was tugging at +Betty's heart. + +"Naught of evil has befallen him, or Mary would know; and you said they +had no tidings?" she asked wistfully one evening, as she leaned against +Joscelyn's window and watched the pale-petalled stars blossom through +the purple gloaming. + +"I rode all the way to the Singletons' yesterday afternoon on purpose to +ask, and they know nothing." + +"And his mother feels no uneasiness?" + +"None. She says Lord Cornwallis would immediately inform her if he +should be killed." + +Betty heaved a deep sigh; and then that latent fear came out, "I suppose +he finds the ladies of the city so beautiful and entertaining that he +has forgotten his--his friends here." + +"S-o! that is what makes you so long of face these days? Well, I do not +believe a word of it. Eustace is no jilt. You will find that you at +least are remembered, and that his silence is from reasonable cause." + +"His cousin, Ellen Singleton, is such a beautiful woman--you remember +Richard told us of her in his letter about the Philadelphia fête. Like +Mary, he said, only more lovely. They must of necessity be much +together, for she, too, is in New York." + +"And betrothed to Major Grant, you jealous child." + +"But that need really make no difference so far as Eustace's admiration +goes. Besides, there must be others as lovely." + +"Of course; but you are pretty, too, when your face is not long and your +eyes red with weeping." + +Betty went home comforted; and that night, when her mother made some +sharp remark about the Singleton household, she plucked up courage to +say it was scarcely fair to judge the whole family adversely because of +the father's shortcomings. And then, scared at her own temerity, she +ran away to her room, and cried out her trouble to that insensate and +inanimate confessor of wronged or sorrowing womanhood,--her pillow. + +A week later, Joscelyn, coming from the Singletons', tied a red ribbon +on her shutter as a sign that she had news; and Betty, hastening over, +soon learned of Clinton's long and tempestuous voyage from New York to +Charleston, whither he went to subdue that city. Eustace had been badly +hurt in the storm that wrecked so many of the transports, and had been +laid up in the hospital at Tybee Bay for weeks, while Clinton went on to +Charleston to begin the siege. + +So the British had come again to the south to teach the people of that +section their duty to their king, and the quiet that had reigned at +Hillsboro' was broken by the coming and going of recruiting parties, and +by the vacillating reports of victory or failure from the beleaguered +city. + +But it was not until August that the climax came. Then Gates, smarting +with the defeat at Camden, halted the remnant of his flying army, +scarcely a thousand strong, at the town on the Eno, to rest and sum up +the full measure of the disaster that had befallen him. During the short +time that he remained, the town was in a ferment. The way to the camp +was thronged with sympathizers; kitchen chimneys smoked with the extra +cooking, and in every house was a banquet of the best that could be had. +Only in the Cheshire house was there no preparation, nor yet upon the +door was there the blue and buff cockade that marked the others. There +were not lacking those who called official attention to this fact, and +so many comments and criticisms crept about among the soldiers that a +couple of young officers, bent on a frolic and thinking to teach this +wilful Joscelyn a needed lesson, stopped upon her porch and sent word +that they would speak with her. And presently she came down to them, +dressed fit to dance in a queen's minuet in silver brocade over a +scarlet petticoat, the round whiteness of her neck and arms shining +through foamy lace, a red rose in her powdered hair, and a black patch +near the corner of her mouth giving a saucy emphasis to her lips. As she +stepped out of the door, the young fellows who had been lounging on the +porch rail instantly sprang up and uncovered at the sight of so much +beauty and dignity. They had thought to find a country maid, mayhap a +woman past her youth; and instead, this glowing creature stood before +them. + +"What is your pleasure, gentlemen?" she asked; but the stiff courtesy of +her question was belied by the laugh in her eyes. + +They exchanged uneasy glances, and one took a step toward the porch +exit; but the other, who was to be spokesman, summing up resolution, +stammered and answered:-- + +"We found no cockade of the nation's colours on your door, and did but +stop to ask the reason." + +"Your general sent you?" + +"No, no; we were but passing, and came of our own accord." + +"Oh, a friendly visit, with no official significance? I pray you present +each other," and she courtesied at each name. "And now let us go into +the parlour and see what can be done for your entertainment." + +And in the parlour she gave them the best chairs, and set herself with +much graciousness of manner to entertain them, plying them with delicate +compliments, singing her Tory ballads with such laughing abandon that in +the same spirit of fun they applauded her, thinking not a moment of the +songs, but of the singer. Later on she brewed them a cup of tea, telling +them it was a love potion to win a fair one's favour; and although they +began by protesting vehemently, yet they ended by drinking it, for she +first put her own lips to the cups, and then dared them with her eyes. +After that they would scarcely have hesitated at hemlock. At the end of +an hour she dismissed them, each with a red rose in his coat. + +"The colour suits your handsome eyes," she said softly to one, with a +ravishing glance, as she fastened the flower in place. And to the other +she murmured, with downcast lids and a sweet similitude of faltering, +"This is for memory," as though for them both this hour was to be a +tryst for thought and tender recollection, and the rose its symbol. + +Neither of them had the wish nor the will to tear the flower away; and +so with a certain crestfallen exhilaration they took their leave, riding +slowly down the street, swearing each other to silence. But the story +got the rounds within the hour, for Mistress Strudwick, seeing them +enter the house and fearing some danger or annoyance to Joscelyn, had +followed quickly, and sat in the next room with the door ajar during the +entire interview. And she was not slow in publishing it abroad, so that +the young officers were twitted unmercifully at mess and headquarters; +even General Gates, when told of it, forgot for a moment the humiliation +of his late defeat, and laughed long and loud. Under the banter one of +the men threw his rose away; but the other held stoutly to his, meeting +the raillery with the assertion that it was a lady's favour and not a +king's colour that he wore. + +"It was not kindly of you to take such mean advantage of them, Joscelyn, +seeing how irresistible you can make yourself, but it was just the +cleverest thing you ever did," Janet cried, squeezing Joscelyn's waist. +"Mistress Strudwick has near had apoplexy with laughter, and even +Mistress Bryce--who hates you like a double dose of senna and was the +first to call attention to your undecorated door--could not keep a +straight face to hear how neatly you outwitted the young coxcombs. But +really, my dear, you deserve no great credit for it; for in that gown +you are fit to melt harder hearts than Providence gave our gallant +young soldiers." + +"I do not flatter myself their hearts were touched; it was only their +vanity that melted like wax in the flame of my flattery." + +"Well, they deserved what they got,--trying to teach you behaviour, +indeed!" + +The next day the army, refreshed and rested, took up its line of march, +passing directly in front of the Cheshire homestead. On the veranda, in +her brocade and brilliant petticoat and framed by the riotous rose vine, +Joscelyn sat and made pretence to be very busy with her flax wheel; but +from under her drooping lids she saw the whole procession. + +Beside his company rode a young lieutenant, his eager gaze ahead of him +until he reached the undecorated house; then his hat came off, and +lifting his lapel on which hung a faded red rose, he cried up to the +girl in the balcony:-- + +"This is for memory!" + +And Joscelyn laughed and fluttered her white handkerchief with what +might or might not be the suggestion of a kiss. And he, forgetful of +military decorum, turned in his saddle and kept his gaze upon her until +the troop passed beyond the corner. + +"Do you know, Joscelyn," cried Janet, rushing up the steps, her eyes +shining and her yellow curls flying in the wind, "that was Lieutenant +Wyley from Halifax--and he is brother to Frederick--and Frederick +danced with no one but me last night (you don't know what you missed in +not going to the cotillion!)--and he has been at my house the livelong +morning." + +"S-o! You have then a new beau to your string?" + +"Oh, yes! and he is strong and masterful, and talks love beautifully, +and he does not say 'by your leave' like Billy, but is just what a lover +should be." + +"Janet, Janet!" cried Joscelyn, reprovingly; but the laughing girl +tossed her yellow curls coquettishly, the exhilaration of a new conquest +upon her; then suddenly hid her face on Joscelyn's shoulder:-- + +"Joscelyn, dearest, did you ever feel a lover's lips against your cheek +for just one little moment?" + +And Joscelyn went suddenly as red as she, remembering that November day +when Richard came home. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +JOSCELYN'S PERIL. + + "First time he kissed me, he but only kissed + The fingers of this hand wherewith I write; + And, ever since, it grew more clean and white, + Slow to world greetings, quick with its 'O list!' + When the angels speak." + --MRS. BROWNING. + + +Thus the months had come and gone, and come again, until three years had +passed since Richard's company marched away that winter day to join +their comrades at Valley Forge. Three years of warfare, and victory yet +faltered to remain with either standard, but wavered like a fickle woman +from side to side. And Joscelyn held to her allegiance, wearing her +scarlet bodice in open rejoicing at news of an English victory, and +decking herself in sombre mourning when tidings of the American triumph +at King's Mountain thrilled the country with an awakened hope. And in +these habiliments she walked the streets, or sat upon her balcony, that +none might be in doubt as to her feelings. + +"Joscelyn Cheshire be as good as a war barometer," said Mistress +Strudwick; "one has but to look at her to know whether to rejoice or to +sorrow." + +Vainly her mother argued with the girl, showing the danger she ran of +drawing upon them both the enmity of the community. + +"We are but two lone women, and what could we do against a mob? You go +too far in this matter, my daughter. An you alter not your behaviour, we +shall be driven from the town, or else have our house burned over our +heads. Only yesterday Sally Ruffin was telling your Aunt Clevering of +some threats she had heard concerning you." + +But Joscelyn shrugged her shoulders. "They will not harm you, mother; +you are too much of their party creed. And as for me, I fear them +not; they will do naught more serious than to tear down my royal +picture-gallery from the porch, and break a few more window-panes." + +And truly martial events were crowding so fast upon each other that the +community had no time to resent the caprices of a girl. All interest was +now centred in the south. Greene had superseded Gates; Cowpens had been +fought and Tarleton sent in rout to Cornwallis, who started in hot haste +to chastise the victors and recover his captured troopers. But Morgan +threw his battalion over the Catawba; Greene took entire command, and +then begun that marvellous retreat, every step of which was as an +American victory. The pursuit was close behind. The whole country held +its breath at the spectacle of two great armies vying against each other +on almost parallel roads for the far-off fords of the Dan. Twenty-five, +even thirty miles a day they tramped it over roads deep in mire that +held them back as with a fiendish purpose. It was a spectacle to stir +one's blood, no matter on which side the sympathies,--this Titanic +struggle, this heroic race. The rear-guard of the pursued, and the van +of the pursuer, often bivouacked in sight of each other's watch-fires. +Petty strife was at an end; the great principles of war alone held sway, +and it were hard to say in which camp there was more of resolute +endeavour. + +The flooding rains detained Cornwallis at the Catawba, and yet again at +the Yadkin, giving the Americans somewhat of advantage, so that Joscelyn +Cheshire said in her mocking way, that the "weather was supplying the +deficiencies of nature and making a great general out of Nathaniel +Greene." + +"Rather is God aiding a righteous cause," Aunt Clevering retorted. + +Hillsboro' was in a fever of excitement during those days, knowing that +somewhere beyond the mountains that skirted her on the west, these +armies, like mighty leviathans, were writhing on their courses. The town +lay almost in the path of both, and each day was full of rumours and +contradictions. The country people, both Whigs and Tories, crowded in +to learn more speedily the news. The streets were thronged each day +with anxious men and women, asking each other questions and exchanging +surmises. And every day Joscelyn rode her horse from the bridge that +spanned the Eno on the western edge of the town to the clump of boulders +called the "Hen and Chickens," which cropped out of a common that lay +high to the eastward. And always she wore in her hat, with jaunty grace, +a cockade of scarlet ribbon; and Tories bowed low as she passed, and +Whigs scowled and shrugged their shoulders, marvelling at her daring. + +But at last the news came that the race was done; Greene had crossed +the Dan to the safety of Virginia, and a union with the reënforcements +hastily spared him from the northern division, and Cornwallis was +baffled. Disappointed, he turned southward once more, and one February +day the vanguard rode haughtily into Hillsboro', and ere night the +sloping commons, flanking the town to the east and northeast, were +white with a tent city swarming with the soldiers of the king. + +In the general excitement Betty ran across the street and, twisting +Joscelyn's apron-string the while, asked, "Do you think Eus--that is, +that you will have any friends on Cornwallis's staff?" + +"I am quite sure you will have one," answered Joscelyn, with a laughing +accent on the second pronoun. "Mary is already in the parlour wanting me +to go with her and hunt him; what message shall I carry that my welcome +may be sure?" + +"Oh, none!" hastily answered Betty. Then added, with a shy laugh, "Of +course I shall have to see him and thank him for his efforts in +Richard's behalf." + +"Methinks you will have to go through that disagreeable ordeal. When I +see him I shall casually mention that I have asked you to be here at +five this afternoon." + +But Eustace did not wait so long to hear Betty's thanks. He laid no +stress on his services save as a pretext to see her, and when his duties +at headquarters were over he boldly presented himself at Mistress +Clevering's door; and Betty, blushing and palpitating, came down to meet +him; and seeing her thus, his heart surrendered itself anew. But her +mother, following close in her wake, gave him no chance to say the +things he longed. + +"We deeply appreciate your efforts for my son, Master Singleton," she +said, sitting stiffly on the extreme edge of her chair, as if ready to +rise on the instant. + +"I have called this morning, madam, not to receive your thanks, for I do +not deserve them; but to say how sorry I was not to do more for him and +for you, and also to express my sincere regrets over his death." + +"Your regrets are misplaced; my son still lives." + +He stood up, amazed; and the lady also rose as though to bid him adieu. +"Still alive? You astound me, madam; I saw his death record." + +"He escaped instead of dying." + +"It sounds like a miracle; but I am glad of it." He turned to Betty, but +her mother had not resumed her seat, and so he, too, stood in an +awkward hesitation. But the girl put out her hands with an impulsive +gesture, and he gathered them both close in his. + +"It was good of you--so good to go to that horrible ship!" + +"I would have gone to the ends of the world to serve you. Your simplest +wish would be my law, and I would count myself well paid with a smile or +one gentle word." He had forgotten her mother standing there like a +sphinx; and Betty's face went suddenly pale, and then as suddenly +reddened and dimpled, for he bent down and kissed each of her hands +lingeringly. + +"Master Singleton!" The harsh tones recalled him to himself. He turned +to the older woman. "My daughter joins with me in expressing our +gratitude. Since your time must be short, we will no longer detain you." + +Of course he went, and Betty fled to Joscelyn for comfort, for her +mother had said sternly:-- + +"We have done our duty, let the matter end here; and let me say +furthermore, that to be grateful one need not blush and dimple while an +arch-enemy of the country kisses one's hand." + +And Betty had almost choked with confusion, and while crossing the +street had looked at her hands with a sense of tenderness that was new. + +"Oh, Joscelyn, I am so miserable and yet so happy!" And Joscelyn told +her all the sweet things Eustace had said about her at the camp, and +sent her home as red and tremulous as a rose in the sun. + +There was joy among the Loyalists over the coming of the Redcoats, and +consternation among those whose relatives were with Greene. Cornwallis +established his headquarters at the inn on King Street, using the +one-roomed building opposite as his office. Here he set up the royal +standard, and issued a proclamation to the Tories of the vicinity to +come to his aid. He looked for a general up-rising in his favour, but he +looked in vain. The country folk rode into town to learn the latest +news, or brought their wives and daughters to the commander's levees; +but most of them rode home again, unconvinced of the permanency of his +lordship's dominion. + +Joscelyn watched them wrathfully as they took their departures, and +strove by the courtesy of her own manner to atone for their lack of +loyalty. Her house became at once the social rendezvous of the +newcomers, and few hours of the day went by without a summons upon her +knocker. Often she was in the cavalcade that drew rein before the +general's office after a ride of inspection through the camp; for with +the army were several Loyalist ladies who had fled from their homes to +their husbands when Greene began his retreat, and with the Tory women of +the neighbourhood they made a goodly company. Mistress Clevering was +filled with rage when, from behind her closed shutters, she saw the +scarlet-coated officers alight at Joscelyn's door. Mary Singleton was +somewhat chary of her favours, fearing the public resentment when the +British should have withdrawn. But Joscelyn took heed of no such +consideration, and was withal so charming and so cordial that Lord +Cornwallis, recalling his friendship for her father, unbent from his +customary reserve, and exhibited in her parlour a courtesy of bearing +which was of a piece with the humanity he showed upon his campaigns. +Among the younger officers the "Royalist Rose," as they styled her, +became a favourite ere the second sun went down upon their coming; so +there was ever an escort waiting at her door when the staff rode forth +to the outlying camp. + +And oftener than any one else this escort was Captain Barry, of the +second legion. It was he who stood at the door of the general's +headquarters when, on that first day, Mary and Joscelyn arrived to make +inquiry for Eustace, and snatching off his hat he came out to receive +them, for they made a very charming picture as they advanced modestly +toward the entrance, piloted by an orderly. The first smile from +Joscelyn's blue eyes did the whole thing for him. He surrendered at +once, without one effort at self-defence; and when he and Eustace +reached her veranda, having escorted the girls home, there was not so +much as one poor little pennant left fluttering over the ramparts of his +heart. From that hour his comrades, when he was wanted, knew in whose +parlour to seek him, and he never failed to let Joscelyn know when there +was a pleasure ride or a tour of inspection planned for the day. + +It was for an excursion of this sort that Joscelyn dressed herself with +exceeding care one afternoon and, with an officer at either bridle-rein, +went out to see the army parade for the commander's inspection. The +conversation as they paced along was all of the movements of a suspected +spy from Greene's host beyond the Dan. + +"We cannot locate the fellow; but certain it is, the doings of our army +are reported accurately to the insurrectionists. Yesterday a letter was +discovered in a hollow stump on the mountain side, left there, of +course, by preconcerted arrangement to be called for. The stump is being +secretly watched, but as yet no results have been obtained. This is all +well known and talked about, Mistress Joscelyn, and you, being one of +us--" Barry's smile said the rest. + +"Is it a townsman who has written these reports, think you?" asked the +girl, going over in her mind the people who might be implicated, with a +quick inward throb for some of her friends. + +"I judge not, for there are references to the writer's journey back from +the Dan. Evidently it is a follower of Greene who knows this country +well. He is exceedingly artful, but his capture is necessarily certain, +with all the precautions we have taken." + +"And what would be his fate, if caught?" + +"A spy is shot--or mayhap his lordship will hang him on the hill yonder, +where they tell me Governor Tryon swung up the traitorous Regulators in +years gone by. 'Twould be but another chapter in the red history of this +your Tyburn Hill." + +The young soldier laughed at his own allusion, but Joscelyn shuddered; +for the first time she seemed to fully realize the grim actualities of +war. Her companions chatted on gayly, and finally she forced herself to +join in the conversation; but somehow they could not get away from the +subject of those surreptitious reports and their author. + +The wide upland common had been turned into a parade ground, and was +full of soldiers marching and counter-marching. The general and his +staff were already afield and saluted the newcomers as they passed on to +the "Hen and Chickens," about which a party of spectators, chiefly +ladies, were already congregated. Here the officers left Joscelyn with +some friends, and rode away to their different commands. It was some +time before the parade began, and in the interim there was much laughing +and talking around the rough boulders. And here again Joscelyn heard of +the wary scout. + +"Who are those men there to the left?" she asked, by way of changing the +conversation, and pointed to five or six men in citizen's dress who +were grouped apart by themselves. Some were mounted; some on foot. + +"Oh, those are the Tory recruits who came in this morning. They have not +yet been assigned to their respective commands, and so are viewing the +scene merely as spectators; to-morrow they will be put in the ranks. The +tall one on the right was with Pyle when Lee surprised and routed him. I +understand he says information of Pyle's movements was sent to Lee by +some one within the town here--probably a Continental spy." + +There was more to tell; but the parade was beginning and the +conversation ended, much to Joscelyn's relief. It somehow unstrung her +nerves to think of another hanging up on Regulators' Hill. From her +saddle she watched the scarlet companies advance, wheel, pass directly +in front of the general's staff, and finally take position in the long +line which was thus formed across the field. It was a stirring sight, +and her fingers relaxed their hold on the rein as she leaned forward to +watch every movement. Suddenly a band stationed near the group struck up +a lively air. The unexpected blare of the trumpets startled Joscelyn's +horse; an upward toss of his head shook the rein from her inert hand, +and then with the panic of fear upon him he wheeled about and dashed off +at a mad pace. The women in the group behind screamed; for the rein was +swinging about the animal's feet, and the girl in the saddle was +utterly at his mercy. From the first plunge Joscelyn realized the peril +of her position; for a few seconds she clung terror stricken to the horn +of her saddle; then she shook her foot free from the stirrup and eased +her knee from the pommel, for an awful memory had come to her. A hundred +yards ahead, directly in the path of the frantic horse, was a deep +ditch, ragged with rocks; there the race must end in death to the +horse--and mayhap to the rider. Her one chance was to leap from the +saddle. It took but a second for this to flash through her mind; but +even as she turned slightly in her saddle, a voice rang out sternly +above the braying horns and the thundering hoof beats:-- + +"Do not jump, on your life!" + +Her fingers closed over the saddle horn in spasmodic obedience; and then +she saw that the horse was running directly toward the group of men in +civilian dress on the little knoll, and that one of them had sprung +forward and waited with uplifted arm the coming of the runaway. Even +through her terror there came a dim realization of the death he was +courting; but in another instant the collision came. The man was knocked +aside by the flying horse, but his hand had caught the rein, and half +dragged, half running, he kept his place at the animal's head. Then his +other hand, fumbling uncertainly, found the bit, and he was master of +the brute. Almost upon the brink of the yawning ditch the horse ceased +its plunges and stood still, quivering through its whole body. The other +men who had followed now crowded about with exclamations and inquiries. + +"Will you dismount?" asked her rescuer. + +And then as she stretched out her shaking hands for his assistance, she +saw his face for the first time. He was deathly pale, and his hat, which +some one had picked up, was drawn low over his brow; but the voice and +the eyes were Richard Clevering's. She would have spoken his name but +for a quick glance of warning from under his hat brim. Then a new sense +of terror swept over her; for, by some swift and subtle instinct, it +came to her that Richard was the hunted spy of whom she had that day +heard so much. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +TRAPPED. + + "You trust a woman who puts forth + Her blossoms thick as summer's?" + --MRS. BROWNING. + + +Not a word was spoken as he lifted her to the ground, and when they +turned to walk back to her companions, it was the tall Loyalist who led +her horse. She listened as in a daze to the talk going on around her, +answering briefly the questions of the solicitous group. But the +presence behind her was the one she felt, and yet she dared not look +backward until they were close upon the company at the boulders; then, +lest she seem ungrateful, and also with a definite purpose to warn him, +she turned to speak to him. He was not among those who followed in the +rear. She breathed more freely, scarcely able to restrain a cry of +relief, for surely he had escaped; and presently she said to the tall +man:-- + +"Methinks I thanked not your companion sufficiently for the service he +did me. Will you bear him a message of gratitude?" + +"I will speak with him as soon as the parade is over." + +It was best to end the matter thus, than to see him again face to face; +for she felt she dared not trust her shaken nerves in another interview, +lest the warning she wished to convey turn into a betrayal. He must have +realized his danger, and gone at once. + +Her escape was the subject of much rejoicing; even Lord Cornwallis, to +whom an account of the accident was carried, sent his aide with +congratulations, and Barry came back at a lope, looking like a ghost +with anxiety. She heard not a half of what was said, her mind was in +such a tumult of perplexity as to her rightful course and of anxiety for +her Clevering friends. Naturally her companions attributed her silence +and abstraction to her recent fright, and gave no thought to it. She was +infinitely relieved when the parade was over, and they were once more on +the homeward road. Her horse had recovered from his panic, and was +moving along quietly. + +"If he had to run away, why could he not have given me the chance to +save you?" Barry said, with much chagrin, longing to show his devotion +and gain some hold upon her thoughts. + +"Perhaps he knew that with you at hand he would have no chance," she +answered with a forced smile, dragging her mind from the dread that +haunted it. + +It was mid-winter; the remnants of a snowstorm still bleached in the +sheltered places among the fields, and whiter yet on the sloping sides +of the mountains behind which the sun had just set, leaving them framed +and fringed with yellow fire. The river at their base was hidden in its +banks and could only be guessed at; but the nestling town had caught a +reflection of radiance from the sunset banners flying above it, and +stood out like some sculptured bas-relief against the downward-dropping +hills. Like the fine colours in an opal, the lights came and went, +brightened and faded. Joscelyn's pulse had begun to beat normally under +the spell of the ethereal beauty of the scene, when suddenly far up the +mountain road her keen eyes descried a moving figure. The trees were +nude of foliage, and the snow lying along the winding road was as a +reflector to show up the dark moving object, which for a moment was seen +and then lost to sight behind a clump of cedars. Was it a cow, or a man +on horseback? A strange curiosity took hold of the girl; she thought she +alone saw it, and all sorts of speculations were in her mind when her +reverie was rudely broken by the officer on her right. + +"Linsey," he said in a whisper which Joscelyn's straining ears caught, +at the same time lifting his finger toward the mountain; "Linsey, an I +mistake not, yonder goes our spy; gallop at once to Colonel Tarleton, +and bid him warn his scouts." + +The aide touched his cap and was gone ere Joscelyn's startled breath +came back. + +"Why, you are again all of a tremble," Barry said, leaning over to +touch her hand, a world of anxiety in his eyes. + +"I--I suppose it was the sound of that other horse's hoofs," she said, +angry with herself for her weakness. "You see I am not a soldier and +used, like you, to face death every day." + +"Thank Heaven you are not," he answered, holding one rein of her bridle +with the joy of a strong man protecting beautiful womanhood. And thus +near to her he whispered many tender things in her ear,--his tense, +young voice vibrant with the awakened passion of his heart; and the +girl's pulses stirred with a strange, sweet quiver. + +So it was they rode home. There in her own room she went over this whole +dread matter, with a womanish longing in her heart to talk to some +one,--to ask advice; but her mother was too timid, and a glance at Aunt +Clevering's dark house decided her that it would be cruel to arouse +anxiety there. Then Barry's manly face and frank eyes came before her, +and in a sudden fit of foolish hysteria, she put her face in her hands +and cried. If she could only go to Barry! But that would have one of two +effects,--it would either put him on Richard's trail, or else make him +false to his cause by winning him to shield the fugitive. She could not +risk either alternative. And what was true of Barry applied with equal +force to Eustace. She would not, if she could, tempt him, through his +love for Betty, to do anything that would dishonour him among his +fellows. And besides, he would not be here to-night with the company +she had invited, for he had said he was going with the relief guard to +one of the outposts. No, there was no one to counsel her; she must think +and act for herself. At first two torturing questions tore her judgment +in twain. The Spartans gave up their nearest and dearest for the cause +of their country, and should she withhold the identity of this man who +had no claim of blood upon her, and who carried perhaps to the king's +enemies information that would defeat the cause? Should she say, "I know +him"; or should she keep her peace and let him go his way? Then she +realized that her knowledge was too meagre to be of any benefit; his +name was all she could surrender, and that were nothing to his pursuers, +who knew more than she of his work and movements. And besides, there +were Betty and Aunt Clevering and Richard himself. No, she could not +play the part of the Spartan; she wanted to be of use to her cause, but +she was keeping back no treasonable knowledge. And with this comforting +assurance, she put the matter aside and dressed herself for the evening, +lacing the brocade over the brilliant petticoat with a smile to think +what Barry would say. Not for a moment did she believe Richard would be +caught; he had the start, and he knew the country much better than his +pursuers, and would outstrip them in the race. + +It was a brilliant company that assembled in her drawing-room that +night,--handsome women and splendid officers, and even Cornwallis +himself,--all come to enjoy her hospitality and to inquire concerning +her accident of the afternoon. + +"Asked you the name of this brave fellow who saved you?" inquired the +commander-in-chief, with a smile. "Methinks he should be promoted for so +signal a service to his Majesty's loyal subject." + +"Nay, your lordship, I asked it not," Joscelyn answered steadily. + +"'Twas the fright made her seem so ungrateful," put in her mother. + +"And small wonder, Mistress Cheshire, for she was in dire straits. But +'tis of no consequence; the name can be easily ascertained, and I shall +myself make the inquiries. Half my staff are mad with jealousy at his +good fortune, and methinks I myself envy him a bit the sweet thanks he +will receive. Now if Mistress Joscelyn's nerves be not too much shaken, +we will have some music." + +So the spinet was opened; and the merriment began and went on far into +the night, while the Cleverings over the way fretted behind their closed +doors in bitter resentment of Joscelyn's conduct. + +"Why, she is actually playing at cards!" cried Betty, who was secretly +on the lookout, for the opposite shutters had not been closed nor the +curtains drawn, so the inmates of the lighted room were in plain view. +"Lord Cornwallis is her partner, but that Captain Barry sits beside her +and whispers behind her cards. Mary Singleton is at the other table, but +I do not see--" her voice trailed off into silence, for she never +mentioned Eustace's name to her mother. + +Meanwhile Joscelyn was all unconscious and unmindful of this +surveillance and, recovering from her fright, her spirits rose +hourly until she had quite regained her accustomed manner. It was not +until something after ten o'clock that an interruption befell their +pleasure-taking. Then suddenly there came the sound of galloping hoofs +down the stony street; many voices shouted and responded, a pistol shot +rang out, and from somewhere under the darkness a guttural drum growled +out its warning. Every man in the room was on his feet in an instant, +and hands snatched for hats and weapons. + +"It is a night surprise!" cried a dozen voices; but even at that moment +the door was thrown open, and an orderly, bowing low, cried out to the +general that the noise was being made by his own men, who had turned +a spy back from the mountains, and chased him into the town where he +was as a rat in a trap, and must immediately be taken. Every heart in +the room ceased its mad beating with relief at this news--every heart +but one. Joscelyn could feel hers pounding against her ribs, and +involuntarily she moved to the window and looked at the dark house +opposite, shuddering as she thought of the grief so soon to enter there. + +In ten minutes the hue and cry had swept down the street, and only faint +echoes came back upon the wind. The whole town was astir, and Joscelyn's +guests lingered a few minutes on the veranda, questioning those who came +and went. + +"Yes, he went straight down this street, riding like one possessed," +said one man to Barry. + +"He has quit his horse, and the guard have captured it," cried out a +messenger a moment later. + +"Ah, well; then will they soon have the man too, even though they search +every house, barn, and hen-coop in the town; Colonel Tarleton does +nothing by halves," laughed his lordship. "Come, Mistress Cheshire, let +us back to our game; ere we end it, the fellow will be in the toils." + +They went slowly back into the house, Joscelyn striving to steady her +nerves by long, deep breaths; but as they drew their chairs again about +the tables, there came from the story above a crash as of breaking +chinaware. Everybody looked up expectant, and Mistress Cheshire rose. + +"I will go," cried Joscelyn, glad to escape, and pushing her mother +gently back into her chair. "'Tis no doubt that troublesome cat again; +he broke one of my flower jars last week." She tripped upstairs, calling +back to his lordship to deal and have the hands ready for she would be +absent only a moment. + +In the upper hall all was silence and semi-darkness. She went first to +her own room, pausing just long enough to press her hands hard upon her +temples before passing from it to her mother's, calling the cat the +while very softly. A fire of logs burned in her mother's fireplace, +so that she wondered at the cold breath of air that smote her as she +entered; then she started,--a back window was open and the pot of plants +which had stood upon the ledge lay shattered on the floor. A swift +annoyance flashed upon her at the maid's neglect, so that she went +forward and closed the sash with a spirited promptness. Picking up a bit +of the broken shard, and facing about from the window in search of the +cat, she suddenly became aware of a man's figure in the shadowy corner +opposite. Instinctively she opened her mouth for a nervous cry, but with +an imperative gesture for silence, he stepped forward, and even in the +dim light she knew it was Richard Clevering. The scream died upon her +lips, and for a moment the objects in the room spun before her. + +"You--_you_?" and even in whispering her voice was strained and shaken. + +"Yes; it was this or death--they had run me to the wall." + +"But the house is full of British soldiers--Lord Cornwallis and his +whole staff--" + +"So much the better; the place will be above suspicion." + +"Mistress Joscelyn, Mistress Joscelyn!" cried a dozen voices from below, +while chairs were being pushed about, and some one struck a few notes +on the spinet. + +"And I myself, sir, am a true Loyalist and cannot harbour--" + +There was a footstep on the stair. "Mistress Joscelyn, we be coming up +to help you catch the cat!" cried Barry's voice. + +Richard sprang toward her, "My God, Joscelyn! you will not give me up +like that?" + +But the steps were halfway up the stair, and she was already turning the +knob of the door, her face like marble in the leaping firelight. + +[Illustration: "'MY GOD, JOSCELYN, YOU WILL NOT GIVE ME UP LIKE THAT!'"] + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +"SEARCH MY LADY'S WARDROBE." + + "Sweetheart? not she whose voice was music-sweet, + Whose face loaned language to melodious prayer; + Sweetheart I called her.--When did she repeat + Sweet to one hope or heart to one despair?" + --CAWEIN. + + +To the man crouching behind the door which Joscelyn had left open, the +minute it took her to traverse the hall and gain the head of the stairs +at the far end, seemed a lifetime. Even in his dire peril the thought of +a bygone day came back to him--"loyal, though a Loyalist," he had said +of her, and had believed it. What a sweetheart to have coddled in one's +thoughts and dreamed of, waking and sleeping,--this girl who would in +cold blood hand him over to death because of a fancied duty! Escape by +the way he came was impossible; he could only wait here and sell his +life at the highest price. Ay, there should be left in this room a +memory that would exile her from it forever; the blood that had beat for +her and which she had betrayed, should redden her floor and stain the +dainty things she loved. + +His sword had been thrown away when he quitted his horse, since it +cumbered his flight; but his pistols and dirk were still upon him, and +he made ready for their use. Then through the crevice of the hinge, he +beheld Joscelyn as she faced about in the brighter light at the head of +the stairs, and the weapon well-nigh slipped from his hand as he saw her +hold up the bit of shard she still carried, and say, with a smile, to +those below:-- + +"'Tis not worth while your coming. What need to waste time on the +senseless offender when the offence is beyond repair? My very last +flowering almond is a hopeless wreck, and I had nursed it with such +care!" She ended with a sigh and a pretty pout, and went slowly down the +stair out of Richard's sight; but the voices from below reached him +distinctly, so that he heard the officers' condolences and her laughing +replies. Great drops of perspiration broke out upon his brow as the +joyous truth dawned fully upon him. + +She did not intend to betray his presence in the house to the +scarlet-coated bloodhounds who would tear him limb from limb! + +How could he ever have mistrusted her, this one woman whom he had loved +with the passion of youth and of manhood? He sank to a sitting posture +upon the floor, propping himself against the wall, for he was +desperately weary with the long, hard chase, and this relief was as the +opening of Paradise before his aching eyes. His limbs relaxed; but his +ears were strained to catch every sound that came up the stairway. The +game of cards had been renewed, and the merriment was at its height, +when twenty minutes later there was again a commotion in the street and +a loud summons at the door. + +"May it please your lordship," said Tarleton's voice, "the fellow hath +give us the slip and is in hiding with some of his sympathizers. We wish +a permit to search the houses in this neighbourhood, for hereabouts he +must be, since he was seen last at yonder corner." + +There arose a perfect Babel of voices, out of which Richard could make +nothing clearly; but he knew the permit was given, for in a few minutes +Tarleton opened the street-door, and ordered his men to begin the search +at the house on the lower corner, and proceed thence up the street, +missing no dwelling. Every other street and alley in the town had been +sentinelled, so he assured Cornwallis. + +The soldiers at the door dispersed, and a breathless silence filled the +house. Richard dared not move lest his stiff joints pop, or his boots +creak and betray him. He knew flight was impossible; for there was a +stamping of horses in the rear court, proving that the house was +surrounded. It were wiser to wait and face the fate that came to him, +than go out to meet it on the way. + +The minutes that followed seemed interminable. He felt that his doom was +sealed, and then there came upon him an overmastering desire to hear +Joscelyn's voice once more. Why did she not come to him on some feigned +pretext or other? Surely she must know how he suffered! Death were not +so hard to meet, if he could but first hold her in his arms and hear her +say some tender word. + +Then the noise in the street grew louder, and he knew that the search +was drawing near. His nerves were strained to tautness, when presently +he heard the party stop in the street below, and a voice downstairs +cried out gayly:-- + +"They be going to call upon your kinsfolk, the Cleverings, Mistress +Joscelyn. Let us out to the balcony and see the fun." + +In the confusion of scraping chairs and opening doors, Richard got to +his feet. The cold and weariness in his limbs were forgotten in anxiety +for his mother. A-tiptoe he crossed the room in the shadow of the +furniture and gained Joscelyn's front window,--that window out of which +he had seen her lean in her scarlet bodice the day he marched away so +long ago. It was an easy thing to hide himself in the folds of the heavy +curtains which had been drawn for the night; and thus concealed, to +watch, through a crescent slit in the blind, the scene below, for the +veranda was open with no roof to intervene. + +It was full moon, and the figures in the street, twenty men-at-arms, +were plainly visible. Three of these passed silently to the rear of his +mother's house, while the others drew up in line before the door. Then +the leader smote the panels until they rang like a drum. Twice was the +summons repeated ere a voice from an upper window demanded what might +be the matter. + +"Matter enough that I knock," replied the man, so insolently that +Richard's blood took fire, for every word could be distinctly heard from +his coign of vantage. + +"Nay, we be but two lone women in this house, and we open not but to the +proper authorities." + +"Well, and we be the authorities," answered the man less rudely, for +there was that in Mistress Clevering's voice that brought him to his +senses. "We have here an order from the commander-in-chief to search +this house for a rebel spy. Open the door and read the writ for +yourself." + +The window above was closed, and presently the click of the lock was +heard, and then the door opened partially and Mistress Clevering, candle +in hand, stood before them. Betty cowered behind like a frightened +child. + +"No one is here save my daughter and myself; to search the house were +wasted time." And in her heart, Joscelyn thanked Heaven she could speak +thus truly; but the soldier said brusquely:-- + +"We have judged the matter differently; lead the way, and see to it that +you open every door. We will put up with no deception." + +As they passed into the house, Joscelyn's voice from over the way cried +out shrilly, "Neglect not to search the closet by the attic chimney; +'tis just of a size to hold a man, and perchance contains him whom you +seek." + +Mistress Clevering turned angrily toward the door as though she would +answer, but the soldiers urged her on, and so it was Betty who called +back:-- + +"That is neighbourly! Tell all you know about your best friends, +Mistress Ingrate; we have naught to fear." + +At this Joscelyn laughed loudly, but to Richard the laugh was more +hysterical than mirthful, like one under a great nervous strain. He felt +his hands involuntarily groping for his pistols, as the opposite light +flashed from window to window and he knew his mother was being ordered +about by those insolent Redcoats. The candle lingered longest in the +attic; but at last it descended, and soon the disappointed soldiers +stood in the street empty handed. Tarleton was furious and swore a great +oath, but the soldiers protested they had overlooked no nook or corner +where a man might conceal himself. + +"'Tis a bootless errand, sir; unless, indeed, the man be in this house," +said Tarleton, riding up to Joscelyn's door. "What say you, shall we +search here also?" + +Upstairs Richard's heart stood still, while down below Joscelyn's head +swam. Then her laugh rippled out mockingly. + +"Truly, your lordship, that is a reflection upon you and those of your +gallant officers who have done me the honour to spend the evening under +my roof! I pray you, gentlemen all, turn your pockets wrong side out +that Colonel Tarleton may be sure you have not hidden his spy." + +"I jest not, mistress," answered Tarleton, who owed her a grudge in that +she had manifested much personal dislike to himself. "What says your +lordship?" + +Cornwallis started to reply, and then hesitated; whereupon Joscelyn +broke in haughtily:-- + +"An your lordship doubts my loyalty, pray let the search proceed--the +doors are open." + +"Ay, search; and fail not to look in my Lady Ingrate's wardrobe; 'tis +just of a size to hold a man," came with a scornful laugh from over the +way; for Betty was still at her door, and the street was not so wide but +that the opposite voices reached her clearly. + +"Of course," said Joscelyn, with the same haughty dignity; "search the +wardrobe by all means; here are the keys." She threw the bunch at +Tarleton's feet, calling to her mother to do the same, and then walked +into the hall, her head up and her eyes aglow. Richard could not see +her, and so ground his teeth in an impotent rage that she would thus +tamely yield him up. But the next moment he guessed her purpose, +realizing this was her surest way to avert suspicion, and he blessed her +under his breath. If they found him, they should never know that she had +for a moment connived at his concealment. + +Tarleton stooped to pick up the keys, but Cornwallis interposed. + +"Nay, sir; to search this house would be an affront to so loyal a +subject as Mistress Joscelyn. Besides, the idea that the miscreant is +hiding here is preposterous. He must have seen us through the windows, +and to enter would have been to rush into the lion's jaws. Spies as a +rule are wise men; not the fools of an army. Search the stable if you +will, leave a guard in the alley; but enter not the house. And now, +Mistress Cheshire, I see the ladies are going; we will also withdraw +after returning thanks to you and your daughter for your charming +hospitality." + +Richard clutched at the window-frame to steady himself as he realized +the present peril had passed. What a glorious girl Joscelyn was, for all +her Toryism and scoffing! + +Joscelyn stood at the door, courtesying to her departing guests,--the +picture of dainty, decorous hospitality. As Tarleton lifted his hat +sullenly, she looked him straight in the eyes, and said graciously:-- + +"I will leave this door unbolted, that your sentry may come in and warm +himself by the fire in the rear room as the night grows chilly." + +To doubt her after that were impossible; and he excused his former +brusqueness by saying a soldier's duty was oftentimes most displeasing +to himself. She accepted the apology with a smile, and stood in the door +until they all, even Barry, who was always tardy over his leave-taking, +had gotten to horse; and then with a final good night, she shut them +out. She did not stop in the hall, but went straight on to the stair, +saying to her mother as she ran up:-- + +"Will you see to the lights down here, mother? I will go up and look +after your fire." + +This was a reversal of the usual order of things, but her mother was too +used to her caprices to take any notice. In the room above, Richard had +already replenished the fire, and was waiting for her on the rug with +eager, outstretched arms. + +"Joscelyn!" he cried; but she silenced him with a gesture. + +"Quick--off with your boots--mother must not know; there will be further +inquiry to-morrow, and for very anxiety she could not keep the secret. +Now, come." In the hall she leaned over the banister to ask her mother +to leave something on the table for the sentry to eat; and when the old +lady was gone back to the pantry, Joscelyn unlocked the door of the +shed-like attic at the rear of the hall, and giving Richard the lighted +candle she held, she pushed him in. "There are plenty of blankets on the +shelves at the far end--make your bed on a pile of carpet that is behind +the cedar chest." + +"But, Joscelyn--" + +"H-u-s-h, not so loud. As you know, the attic has no windows, so your +candle cannot be seen outside. There is mother--I will come back if I +can." + +She was gone, and he knew that she had locked the door from without. +Along with his sense of relief came an exquisite joy that he was her +prisoner, that it was she who must minister to him,--she to whom he owed +his life. It was some minutes before he remembered her injunction and +set to work to make himself comfortable. He left the candle on the floor +beside his boots and, wrapping himself in the blankets, found a cosey +resting-place behind the big cedar chest. What thoughts and visions +crowded his mind as he lay there under the spider-hung rafters that +dropped almost to his head! Five days before he had quitted his +command--impelled by a thirsty desire to see Joscelyn's face--to +undertake the dangerous mission of his chief, and ascertain Cornwallis's +actual strength. Unable to learn anything definite by hearsay, and +catching idle rumours of Joscelyn's popularity among the English +officers, the daring design had come to him to play the part of a +Loyalist seeking enlistment in the British army, trusting to what little +disguise he could add to his own altered looks to shield him. Following +out this plan, and gaining at the parade all the knowledge necessary, he +had stolen from the field, and would have effected his escape had he but +taken the longer bridle-path around the mountain, rather than the +shorter one directly over it. Joscelyn's accident had delayed him +somewhat, and trusting to his citizen's dress, and the preoccupation of +the whole force at the parade, he had thought to be beyond sight or +pursuit ere the review was over. That his reckoning failed, has been +already shown. Tarleton's henchmen, set on by Linsey, had headed him off +and driven him back into the town. Passed through the peril, and strong +man that he was, he yet shuddered as he thought how near to death he had +been when he leaped from his horse at the corner yonder, and with a +fierce cut sent the animal as a decoy down the dark adjacent street, +while he plunged into the shadowy alley. At Mistress Cheshire's rear +gate he had recognized his bearings, and entering without hesitation, he +had crossed the yard, and by means of a grape-trellis climbed to the +roof of the rear porch. To open the window was not difficult, but in +entering he had upset that flower jar and betrayed his presence. He had +heard the talk and laughter as he climbed up, and guessed who Joscelyn's +guests were; but he trusted to her mother to hide him. How infinitely +sweeter it was to know that, instead, it was her own hand that had saved +him. + +For nearly an hour he lay thus, stretched at full length upon the +restful pallet. Then, all at once, although he was conscious of no +sound, he felt that she had come. Rising hastily, he met her as she +slipped through the half-opened door. She shaded her eyes for a moment +to concentrate the light, the candle was so dim; then crossing over to +the chest, she placed on it a platter of food and a pitcher of milk. + +"You must be half famished;" and although but a whisper, her voice was +studiously polite. "I have brought you ample supply; for it may be late +ere you get your breakfast in the morning, seeing I have to smuggle it +to you." + +Never had he seen her so beautiful. The shining brocade set off every +curve of her figure; under the lace of her bodice her bosom rose and +fell with suppressed excitement, and her eyes were full of the starry +lights he knew so well. And yet there was something about her that held +in check the fire that leaped through his pulses. For the first time as +he gazed thus upon her, he realized fully the menace he had brought upon +her. + +"Joscelyn, I should never have come here." + +"It was, as you said, your only chance." + +"I should not have taken that chance; rather I should have died beside +my horse before bringing this danger to you." + +"Hush! they will not harm me." Her head went up with a little triumphant +fling as she said this; for she was thinking of Barry, and how, if +detection came, he would surely save her. + +"You do not know the penalty one pays for harbouring a spy; I will go +this very night and free you from this menace." + +"No, no," was the hasty answer. "We should both be undone--Tarleton's +men will watch the house all night. To-morrow night perchance, or the +night after; but not to-night. You are safe here for the present, for +his lordship's orders will be obeyed." + +He came close to her, so close that he saw the pallor of her face, and +the perfume of her dress rose with a sweet intoxication to his nostrils. +"Joscelyn, is it for love of me that you have done this thing?" + +"No." + +"For what, then?" + +"For sake of our old comradeship and for Betty. Besides, you saved my +life this afternoon--a return of favours leaves no burden of obligation +on either of us." + +"Nay; you risk more for me than I did for you." + +She shrugged her shoulders. "The accounts balance." Then glancing about +solicitously, she added, "I would I could make you more comfortable, but +our first care must be to avert suspicion. Good night." + +She was moving to the door, but he caught her wrists just below the +hanging lace of her sleeve; and holding her thus, he told her in a few +graphic sentences all his thoughts as he had rested under the rafters +behind the chest--the reason and the history of his scouting venture, +the mental trysts he had held with her so often. All the intensity of +his strong nature went into that appeal; it seemed as if a heart of ice +must have melted in it; and for a moment her head did droop and her +hands tremble, then she shrugged her gleaming shoulders again, saying:-- + +"It had certainly been more soldier-like to have come for love of your +cause, rather than for sake of a girl's eyes." + +"For sake of both did I come." + +"A spy--" + +But she got no further; something in her tone stung him to the quick. +"You need not speak so disparagingly. A spy's work may not be pleasant, +but it is absolutely necessary. Without the information he sends his +general, false steps might be taken and hundreds of lives needlessly +sacrificed. A spy has a humane as well as a dangerous mission." + +"'Tis well you think so highly of your calling. Good night again." + +"Joscelyn, do not leave me thus; this day we have each looked into the +eyes of death--let us at least part as friends." + +She turned back, her face dimpling with a smile that was like a gleam of +sunshine, "Good night, Richard, and a safe awakening." + +Then she was gone; and he threw himself down to sleep the sleep of utter +weariness. + +Joscelyn sat on the rug before her almost burned-out fire, trying to +disengage the attic key from the big bunch her mother habitually wore at +her belt, and thinking rapidly of the events of the day. She knew that +the end had not been reached, but she was determined to brave it out; +there was nothing else to do,--there had been nothing else from the +first. And she must stand alone. Fresh inquiry would be instituted +to-morrow, and her mother's veracity could not stand the strain to which +it might be put if she knew all. Neither could the secret be shared +with Aunt Clevering, for her mother-heart might betray its anxiety, and +so would another family be involved. She must bear the burden herself; +must evade, pretend, even _lie_, if need be, to keep the knowledge from +any one else. The man had fled to her for sanctuary; which were worse, +she asked herself bitterly, to soil her lips with an untruth, or her +hands with a betrayal, a breach of trust and of hospitality? From Betty +and Aunt Clevering she could expect no mercy of neglect, because of that +hasty speech about the attic closet. It had been made thoughtlessly, to +establish her own footing more securely by a great show of loyalty; but +would, she knew, act as a two-edged sword, cutting away part of her +safety. To-morrow she would not dare leave the house all day lest +something terrible transpire in her absence; she must feign some pretext +for staying indoors--perchance a headache from the effects of her +fright. + +And then having planned her course fully and carefully, woman-like she +began to cry tempestuously at the position in which she found herself; +blaming with equally unreasoning impatience the band, Richard, and her +horse for her predicament. If she were only a Whig, doing this thing for +her country, or else if she were but in love with Richard, how +beautiful, how romantic, it would all be! But--but-- + +And even after she was in bed, she went on sobbing softly to herself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +IN TARLETON'S TOILS. + + "The brave man is not he who feels no fear, + For that were stupid and irrational; + But he whose noble soul its fear subdues, + And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from." + --JOANNA BAILLIE. + + +After a troubled sleep that brought little rest, Joscelyn opened her +eyes on what she supposed would be a day of danger,--certainly a day of +small deceptions. But in one way fortune favoured her; the morning was +cold and raw, with now and then a flurry of snow, so she would have no +occasion to leave the house, and need worry over no excuse for biding at +home. But the early hours were full of quavers and starts; the least +quick noise sent her blood racing through its channels. Her first real +fright came when the guard in the back yard discovered bits of fresh mud +upon the trellis of the porch. + +"'Tis nothing," she said, with a touch of asperity when he showed it to +her; "the maid threw a broken flower pot from the upper window, and this +earth was no doubt spilled out as it fell--there are the remnants of the +jar by the fence." + +The guard bowed and withdrew; but there was a supercilious smile on his +face, which filled her with nervous apprehension. In a hasty resentment +that the man perhaps guessed at her duplicity, she could have struck +him. + +And yet a second time was she thrown into consternation, when her mother +discovered the loss of the attic key from her bunch. + +"Oh, it is not lost! I broke the string yesterday night, and doubtless I +missed this one when I strung them up again. It is in my room this +minute, I dare swear. Is there aught you need in the attic now?" + +"Nay, I but feared the key was lost." + +"Well, let me first finish this round of knitting and I will hunt it. +Mother," she went on, after a pause, during which she picked up her +stitches industriously, "had you not better go over and make my peace +with Aunt Clevering? She was most angry with me last night." + +"And good cause she had, Joscelyn; methinks I never heard any one make +so rude a speech. What put you to it?" + +"In faith, mother, I cannot tell. It was cruel and unwarranted, and you +may tell her I say so, and that I am bitterly sorry. Make any excuse you +please, only make it at once, for you know Aunt Clevering's displeasure +grows like a mushroom when left to itself." + +She had small hope that her aunt would be appeased, but she wanted her +mother out of the way that she might carry her prisoner something to +eat. It was close upon one o'clock, and not a morsel had she been able +to give him. She drew the bolt of the front door after her mother, who +was nothing loath to go upon this peace errand; and hurrying to the +dining room, made hasty preparation to relieve Richard's needs. She was +not used to doing things upon the sly, and her heart was in hot +rebellion that she must stoop to such a thing among her own servants. +There were hard lines of determination about her mouth, but the hands +that sliced the meat and buttered the bread shook a little. Even when on +the stair, she turned back, startled by a sound in the hall; but it was +only the cat romping with her little ones, and so once more she went on. +Softly she unlocked the attic door, and stepped in. The room was in +partial twilight, having no window, but she saw Richard coming to meet +her. + +"No May-day sunshine was ever half so welcome," he whispered, taking her +hand in both of his. "Tell me how matters have gone this morning. I have +fretted myself into a fever lest I bring some annoyance upon you. And +now you must promise me that if discovery comes, you will forswear all +knowledge of my being here. I shall claim that the key was in the lock, +and after I was inside, some one came and closed the door. Thus will you +be free from blame." + +"And think you any one will believe so flimsy a story? Nay, the only +safety for either of us lies in your not being discovered. I understand +that Tarleton is furious over his failure, and has already ordered a +new search. I rely upon my own loyalty, and upon his lordship's order +for our exemption. But if the worst comes, we must be prepared." + +"I am." He touched his pistols and drew himself up until his magnificent +figure was at perfect pose. "I shall die, Joscelyn, but like a soldier; +not on the gallows." + +She shuddered, and her eyes lost their coldness; the woman in her was +touched by his cool courage in face of such a danger. + +"Yes," she said, with a hesitating gentleness, "but I pray it come not +to that. By being prepared I meant we must leave no tell-tale traces +here such as these,"--she pointed to the platter and pitcher. "I shall +take these away; your dinner I have brought in this bit of paper--leave +no crumbs when you have finished. This jug contains water and this +bottle wine; stand them in that corner with those empty bottles, and +they will attract no attention." + +"It shall be done, Joscelyn." + +"Watch under the door; if there is an order given to search the house, I +will try and warn you by a note." + +"Joscelyn, desperate as I was, I should have sought some other shelter, +had I not thought your loyalty would put your house beyond the shadow of +suspicion. Will you not say you forgive me before you go? We may never +meet again." + +"There is nothing to forgive; you but put it in my power to requite an +obligation," she said very gently. + +"That is scarce a pardon. I would have you speak as though the +forgiveness came from your heart, rather than from your head. Between us +there can be no question of a debt; my love makes me your bondservant, +and as such my service is yours rightfully." + +"Your name is not known," she broke in hastily, "but I understand it is +suspected that my rescuer of yesterday is the escaped spy." + +"That accounts for Tarleton's doubt of you. Joscelyn, I will not stay +here a moment longer and expose you thus. My mother's house has already +been searched--" + +"And will be again ere nightfall. What you propose is folly,--worse than +folly; it is death to you and betrayal to me. There are double guards +everywhere, for Colonel Tarleton is as much policeman as soldier. You +could not leave this house and cross the street alive!" + +"Then what must I do?" + +"Why, in sooth, since you cannot go, you must remain." There was just a +touch in her voice and smile which made him think of their early days of +quarrel and make-up. It was such an intoxicating change from her manner +of a moment ago that he lost his head and caught her for a moment in his +strong arms. But she broke away, and gathering up the pitcher and +platter prepared to go. + +"There is just one thing," she said hesitatingly, "your despatches--?" +He tapped his forehead. Again she paused irresolutely, the colour coming +and going in her delicate cheeks. "I am saving you, not your despatches; +do you understand?" + +"You do not mean--?" + +"Yes, I mean that Greene must learn nothing from you if you escape." + +But his hand was over her mouth before she could go on. "You cannot make +a request so unworthy of you and of me! Think you for one instant that I +would buy my safety with the information that may save my comrades? No, +no, Joscelyn dear; you did not ask such a thing of me, for you would not +dishonour me, although you say you do not love me. I make no such +bargain with you; either I carry my despatches to my general, or I walk +out of your house this minute, and let the first ball that can hit me +put an end to my life." + +His hand was on the door, but she dragged him back; her face like ashes. +"No, no, Richard; I will not ask it--indeed, I will not!" + +Silently he kissed the hand upon his sleeve, and as they stood thus +looking into each other's eyes, there came a sharp rapping at the door +below. She went deathly pale for a moment, then waving him back, she +stepped out into the hallway. + +"It is only mother," she said, after listening a moment; "she has been +over to Aunt Clevering's to make my peace for last night's rudeness. +What I said was in desperation; I know not what evil genius put me to +it." + +He took her hand reverently for a moment. "'Twas no evil genius, but a +brave spirit of self-sacrifice." + +She locked the door, and went down the stair singing. At the foot she +called out, "Coming, mother!" and ran to hide the dishes she carried, +then back to the door and undid it, still singing her merry ditty. + +"Why should you bolt the door, my daughter, seeing I was to be gone only +a few minutes?" + +"I was upstairs straightening things a bit, and the town is so full of +confusion that I felt a trifle nervous." + +"But here was the sentinel to protect you." + +"Oh, I quite forgot him!" she smiled with deprecating politeness at the +sentinel, who had paused at the steps and was watching her with an ugly +frown upon his sullen face. He touched his hat with a shrug, and moved +on upon his beat. + +But a new terror came to the girl; evidently the man suspected her, and +of course his suspicion would be carried to Tarleton. Why had she +lingered upstairs talking with Richard? Everything she did worked the +wrong way. Would the day never end? She strove to make amends for her +false step by singing Tory songs as she went about the house, and by +sending the guard a dainty luncheon. It was perhaps an hour before she +remembered to ask her mother the result of her interview with Aunt +Clevering. + +"Oh, but I had a sad scene of it! Joscelyn, your tongue will be the ruin +of us; I know it, I know it! Neighbour after neighbour has taken offence +at your outspoken Toryism; and now Ann Clevering, dear to me as a +sister, says she hopes you will never darken her door again. And if you +go not, why, neither can I; and so I am cut off from my best friend by +your unneighbourly caprice! And think what we have been to each other!" +Here sobs choked the unhappy woman's utterance, and she could only turn +her eyes reproachfully upon her daughter. + +Joscelyn was deeply moved, as she always was, to wound her mother; but +she put the best face possible on it in order to cheer the disconsolate +old lady. + +"There, mother dear, 'tis not worth crying over. Not go to see Aunt +Clevering because I cannot go? Why, that is nonsense. Of course you will +go, and she will come here just the same. I will keep out of her way +until she forgives me--for she will forgive me, never you fear. I am not +surprised at her anger, but it will all come out right in the end; so +don't cry, little mother, you break my heart with your tears." + +But in her heart was serious question whether she would ever again be +received upon friendly footing in the house over the way, which had been +to her as a second home. She would never tell that she had made that +speech to turn inquiry from her own house, where Richard was hiding; and +she now doubted much if he would escape to tell the story himself. She +sang no more that afternoon, but sat silently over her knitting. The +weather did not tend to mend her spirits; for the drizzle of the morning +had turned into a steady downpour, and the wind moaned about the gables +and up the throat of the wide chimney like a lost spirit hopelessly +seeking its reincarnation. Her mother was still brooding over the break +with the Cleverings, and now and then lifting her kerchief to her face +in a gesture that was a reproach to Joscelyn, who strove not to see it; +and yet she watched for it persistently out of the tail of her eye. She +grew more miserable each moment; and so hailed with delight the entrance +of Barry and a fellow-officer, who had come to bask in the warmth of her +smile. + +"Your visit is a charity, gentlemen," she said gayly, as she gave them +chairs; "this weather serves one's spirits and one's ruffles alike, in +that it leaves them both limp and frowsy." + +"Your mother seems more out of sorts than you." + +"Yes; mother is doing penance for my sin of last night, Captain Barry." + +"Your sin? Why, methinks you never committed anything more heinous than +a misdemeanour. Come, make me your confessor, and I promise you complete +and immediate absolution." + +"'Tis not your absolution, but Mistress Clevering's that I need; she has +excommunicated me for telling of the attic closet," she spoke with an +air of mock penitence that set her visitors off in a roar. + +But Mistress Cheshire stopped them with a fresh burst of tears, "'Tis no +matter for jesting with me, sirs. I am a subject of King George and wish +him well, but he cannot take the place of Ann Clevering in my heart!" + +"True, true," said Joscelyn, still with her air of pretence, only now it +was playful; "she loves her king, but, you see, she lives not neighbours +with him; and so, forsooth, she cannot compare her loaves with his on a +baking day, nor ask the loan of his pie pans, nor offer her mixing bowl +in return. Ah, gentlemen, there is a homely charm in proximity of which +the poets wot not!" + +And so the talk ran on for a few minutes, and the visitors agreed they +had never found Mistress Joscelyn so charming or so witty. Then they +fell to talking of the military news, of Tarleton's determination to +ferret out the hidden spy, and of the burning of the Reverend Hugh +McAden's library by that division of the army stationed at Red House, a +few miles distant. To all of the first she listened with an outward show +of indifference, but with an inward quaking. The other news interested +her less; but for obvious reasons was also less embarrassing. + +"I pray you, Captain Barry, why should the soldiers burn the reverend +gentleman's library? 'Twas innocent enough, and he himself has been dead +this twelvemonth." + +"Well, they found from his books he was a Presbyterian; and being that, +he must perforce be also a rebel." + +"And they consigned his books to the same fate they believed him to be +enjoying--the fire? Pray you, sir, were the flames _blue_? Being the +very essence of Presbyterianism, they should have been blue, you know." + +"Capital! I shall tell his lordship of your excellent joke." + +She hated herself for her little pleasantry, for she had sincerely +admired the minister, whom she had known since childhood; but she must +keep up a show of gayety, that these young men might carry a good report +of her to headquarters. + +With the growing cloudiness the day was visibly shortened. Joscelyn, +glancing now and then at the window, watched the going of the light with +secret satisfaction. Already the opposite houses were becoming +indistinct, and as the shadows grew apace, just in proportion did her +spirits rise; the danger was drifting away, and the man upstairs now had +a chance for life. But just as she was congratulating herself that the +ordeal was past, there came a trampling of hoofs at the door; and +Tarleton's voice, giving some order, made her realize that the crisis +had perchance but just now come. For one awful moment the power of +motion forsook her; then with a masterly effort at calmness, she +said:-- + +"Mother, entertain the gentlemen while I see why Samuel does not bring +the lights." + +She managed to walk with becoming leisure to the parlour door; but once +outside she almost flew up the stairs. Down on her knees before the fire +in her room, she wrote rapidly upon a scrap of paper:-- + + "Be ready. Tarleton has come. They shall search _my room first_; + that must be your refuge. When I open the attic door, stand thou + close behind it; I will direct attention to the chest and shelves + at the far end--then, if any, is your chance." + +She rose to her feet; the hall below was full of manly voices, above +which her mother called, "Joscelyn, Joscelyn, come at once, here are +more visitors." + +"Yes, mother." Then with a crash she dropped the key basket, which she +had snatched up, just in front of the attic door, and while gathering up +the spilled keys with one hand, she slipped the note under the door with +the other, and instantly felt it grasped and drawn away to the other +side. She knew Richard could read it by means of his tinder-box. Then +flinging the keys into the basket, she ran downstairs. As she entered +the parlour, and saw before the hearth the short, square figure of +Tarleton, the tremor passed out of her limbs. All day she had been +starting and quaking; now in the presence of the real danger, she +was calm and collected. She greeted the colonel with a fair show of +hospitality, and fell immediately to talking of those ill-fated volumes +of McAden. It was anything to gain time that the last lingering daylight +might go. Tarleton let her run on for a few minutes, even let Barry +repeat her poor little joke about the blue flames; then he cleared his +throat and began:-- + +"Mistress Joscelyn, it behooves--" + +But she interrupted him. "Why, dear me, did not mother give you a cup of +tea? You must have one at once to kill that cold in your throat. What a +terrible ride you must have had to-day in this storm. A soldier's life +is indeed a hard one, and nobly does he win the fame which illumines his +name! Two lumps, or three? Ah, you have a sweet tooth." + +But she could not stave him off after he had drained his cup. She wanted +to tell him how they came by the tea since the tax had stopped its sale, +but he cut her short. + +"Another time, Mistress Joscelyn, I shall be glad to listen to your +story, which is no doubt an interesting one. But just now I have graver +matters to discuss with you." + +"Grave matters with me?" she repeated, with feigned surprise and a +ripple of laughter that was like the tinkle of a silver bell. "That is +an unusual kind of discussion for a soldier to hold with a woman. Are +you going to ask my advice about your morning coffee or your next +campaign? But I pray you, sir, proceed; I am all attention." + +There was not a glimmer of daylight through the unshuttered window-sash. +She felt the sinews in her hands and arms grow like iron, and her pulses +beat with the perfection of rhythm. So does a great crisis sometimes +steady a woman's nerves. + +The short colonel rocked himself from toe to heel a moment as he looked +at her half in unbelief, half in admiration of her coolness. Truly she +was superb. Then he said:-- + +"The spy of yesterday has not been taken." + +"So these gentlemen were telling me," smiling over at Barry. + +"But it is most important to the safety of our command and the good of +our cause that he be found--dead or alive." + +She merely nodded, never taking her steady gaze from his face. + +"That he could have gotten out of the town is impossible. My men ran him +in from the west side, over the bridge of the Eno. The sentinels were at +their posts upon the north, east, and south sides of the village; he +could not have passed them without detection." + +Again he paused; and finding that something was expected of her she +said, in a most matter-of-fact way, "I see." + +"Then the only conclusion to come to is, that he is still in the town. +Well, now, every house in this vicinity, where he was last seen, has +been thoroughly searched save yours. I have talked with Lord +Cornwallis--" + +She stood up suddenly, with a dignity of movement that well-nigh +disconcerted him. "I pray you, Colonel Tarleton, cut your explanation +short." + +"Then in short, madam, I have here an order from his lordship to examine +your house and premises." + +She stretched out her hand for the paper silently, imperiously. + +Barry had risen and come to her side. + +"You will see," Tarleton made haste to add, "that your own loyalty is +not impugned. The paper states explicitly that it is not believed you +have any knowledge of the man's whereabouts; but it is thought possible +he may have concealed himself secretly in your house. I have spoken to +his lordship, and--" + +"It were unnecessary to say so--I know full well, without the telling, +who has so poisoned his lordship's mind against me. Every man, woman, +and child in this community knows that I have never wavered in my +allegiance to the king. I have been a target for Whig criticism, almost +of persecution, because of that allegiance--and this is my reward!" she +struck the paper sharply with her other hand. "Well, sir, I recognize +the source!" she turned her eyes scornfully upon the man on the rug. + +Tarleton ground his teeth, but his private orders were to use the lady +with all gentleness, and he knew how to obey--under provocation. He +began some sullen disclaimer, but she broke in imperiously:-- + +"Enough, sir; such paltry excuses weary me. Let us to business." + +"You interpose no objection?" + +"None, sir. In this house the mandates of his majesty's representatives +are obeyed. Let me see; is it your wish to begin upstairs? Very well. +Perhaps these gentlemen will be kind enough to watch the stair; the +flight below the landing comes down just at this door." + +"May I not come with you?" pleaded Barry, who was loath to have her out +of his sight with the brusque colonel, lest some rude word be spoken to +her,--a discourtesy he would have been hot to revenge even upon his +superior officer. + +Tarleton nodded assent, but Joscelyn laughingly interposed, "Nay, good +captain, your boots show the effects of the weather; it would grieve my +mother's housewifely heart to know they were leaving their impress upon +her carpets. Wait here and guard the stair--are we three not enough to +capture one?" She pointed as she spoke from herself and Tarleton to his +orderly who had been standing at attention just inside the door. "I take +it, Colonel Tarleton, that we shall be sufficient?" He bowed; and +thrusting her knitting into her pocket, she moved out of the room, +followed by the officer and his orderly. "Mother, look you to the +comfort of these other guests; I shall return presently." + +There was a threat in Barry's eyes as they met Tarleton's in a fleeting +glance; but he merely saluted in silence as that officer passed out. One +day Tarleton should pay for this needless offence to a girl so +unprotected and so beautiful. It was most evident from her bearing to +see that she had nothing to fear from an investigation. Yes, one day he +should pay for it. + +In the hall Joscelyn stopped to pick up the key-basket and the one +candle in its tall brass candlestick. Thus did she leave the lower hall +unlighted save from the open parlour door, for she wanted no radiance +thrown upward to the story above. She talked unceasingly as they mounted +the steps, raising her voice presumably to over-top the noise of the +heavy boots, but really as a warning to the man hiding above. Not for a +moment did she allow herself to consider the probably fatal outcome of +this search. She needed every faculty of mind and body to meet the +moments as they came. In the narrow upper entry she paused and lifted +her candle; a few chairs, a spinning-wheel, and a table formed its only +furniture. A cat could scarcely have hidden there. + +"Proceed, I pray you," said Tarleton, after one glance around. + +Three doors opened on this passage; the nearest of these, which was the +one toward the front, she threw open. The white bed, the frilled +curtains, the dainty toilet articles upon the dresser, were heralds +enough to proclaim the occupant. Even Tarleton hesitated. + +"To search here were useless." + +"Nay, sir; I insist that you carry out your instructions." + +She placed the candle on the table and waited haughtily while the +inspection was made, nodding toward the wardrobe, "Open the doors and +see if Betty Clevering knew whereof she spoke." + +"There is no one here," said Tarleton, following her instructions, his +big hand looking awkward enough among the pretty feminine garments. She +picked up the light and opened the connecting door to her mother's room. +Tarleton went with her first, however, nodding to the orderly to return +by way of the passage, that none might creep by that means from the +rear. + +"An excellent precaution; I had not thought of it," said Joscelyn, +detecting the unspoken order. + +There was a bright fire on her mother's hearth, and she stood as though +warming herself while the two men made their investigation. Her manner +was so perfectly frank and unconcerned that Tarleton began to curse +himself for a fool. At headquarters the other officers had opposed his +plan, laughing at the evidence his guards had gathered--a little mud on +a trellis in rainy weather, a locked door when a woman was left alone in +her house in such troublous times! Truly, the short colonel was +over-credulous to attach any significance to such trifles. Only by the +most masterly persuasion had he wrung that order from Cornwallis. He did +not relish the laugh he knew his failure would provoke, so he lingered +somewhat in this room, examining the closet, and making the orderly +climb up and look to see that no one was hidden on top of the tall +tester. Finally, he announced himself satisfied. + +Joscelyn's hands were like ice as she took up the light and led the way +into the hall, and there stopped in front of the attic door. + +"This is the only other apartment on this floor. It is the attic over +the pantry and kitchen, and extends to the right the length of this hall +and of mother's room, which you have just quitted. There is no other +entrance but this door in the corner, as you will see." + +"Take the light, orderly," said Tarleton, as she turned over the keys in +the basket. This was not what she wanted, but she yielded it without a +demurrer. + +The key turned easily, and opening the door she stepped in, still +keeping her hand upon the knob, which action brought her within a foot +and a half of the wall behind. Still holding the door and facing about +she pointed down the long, narrow apartment. + +"Will you make yourselves at home, gentlemen?" + +Tarleton's spirits rose; the shadows and heaped-up odds and ends in the +far side of the room seemed a covert for noble game. There was no +furniture at this end against which the door opened, only bags of seed +and dried peppers and herbs hanging along the wall in rear of the +girlish figure. His quick glance took this in; then motioning his +orderly to follow, he went down the length of the apartment, the light +glinting on the pistols in each man's hand. On the shelves were +carefully folded piles of bedclothes, and behind the chest a smooth roll +of carpet powdered with dust. The hair trunks and the broken bureau gave +up no guest, nor did the deep shelves reveal anything suspicious. + +All this while a hand had been plucking at Joscelyn's skirt, but +Tarleton had kept his side face to her so that any action was +impossible. Now, however, he called sharply to his aide to place the +candle on the floor and help him search the big chest, remarking in a +low tone that "Caskets like that sometimes held living jewels." + +Joscelyn laughed. "Then will it be in the shape of mice, of which +capture I wish you joy. A rat hunt is noble sport for one of his +Majesty's gallant officers!" + +As she intended it should, this speech but spurred Tarleton on to +greater exertions. They would soon be coming back to the door, and she +dared not risk the closing of it with what she knew was behind. But +there was not much time left for action; for, obeying orders, the aide +placed the candle on the floor, and opening the lid of the chest began +overhauling the contents; his chief's back was also toward the door. +Now, if at all, was the moment for action. Joscelyn's hand had been on +the yarn ball in her pocket; quick as a flash it was out and the thread +snapped apart. The floor slanted straight from her to the candle. With a +deft cast she sent the noiseless ball down the room; it struck the +narrow-bottomed candlestick, which careened and rocked over--and the +next moment the room was in total darkness. + +A cry broke from her and Tarleton simultaneously; his was an oath upon +the orderly, hers a nervous relaxation of the strain that had been upon +her. + +"Colonel Tarleton, come quickly and guard the door whilst I find another +light!" she cried, suppressing the dry sob in her throat; for in the +momentary darkness she had felt a warm body crush past her on its way to +the hall. + +But at that instant the orderly found his tinder-box. + +[Illustration: "'I HAVE SEEN NO HUMAN BEING SAVE OUR PARTY OF THREE.'"] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THWARTED. + + "They laugh who win." + --SHAKESPEARE. + + +As the candle kindled under the orderly's hand Tarleton, who had sprung +toward the door, found himself within a foot of Joscelyn, whom the light +revealed standing in the open doorway with a hand lifted to either +lintel. + +"You find me guarding the postern, colonel," she said, smiling, although +her very knees were shaking under her with nervous trepidation. + +"How came the light to go out?" he demanded angrily. + +"Surely, that is a matter for you to explain. I was far from it at this +end of the room," she answered coldly. Then presently added, "Perchance +'twas struck by some of the things you threw out of the chest; or did +the orderly jar the plank on which it sat? You see the floor is quite a +loose one. No fourth person could have put it out without my perceiving +him, _and I swear to you I have seen no human being save our party of +three_ since coming up the stair." + +This was the truth; for she had not once glanced behind the door, and +she spoke the words slowly, looking the while straight into Tarleton's +eyes. He turned his searching gaze from her, but evidently he was not +satisfied, for as she moved from the door he snatched the light, and +stepping beyond her, and so on up the hall, looked into both of the +rooms he had recently examined. As he paused at her door with the candle +lifted above his head, the scene swam before Joscelyn's eyes. If he +entered, there would be discovery--murder. It seemed an interminable +minute that he stood thus; then the blood came again to her heart with a +rush, for he turned back from the threshold, and, calling for another +light to leave in the hall, he went again to finish his examination of +the attic. Not a box was left unemptied, not a barrel or chest or shelf +that was not searched as for some tiny object that might secrete itself +in a crack. Joscelyn, leaning against the open door, watched the process +in silence save for occasional mocking suggestions or biting comments, +to most of which he gave no heed. A lurking suspicion of her, added to +his fear of ridicule at headquarters, made him doubly cautious, so that +he never turned his back upon her for an instant, and now and then he +paused and looked at her keenly and curiously; but she only gave him a +satirical laugh for his pains. But the search could not go on forever, +and at last he had to announce that he had finished. Joscelyn longed to +leave the door open, that Richard might creep back; but they had found +it locked, and so, fearful of arousing suspicion, she made no objection +when Tarleton, having looked behind the door, locked it and handed her +the key. On every step of the stair her spirits rose, so that her cheeks +were brilliant and her eyes shining, when at the bottom Barry met them, +and relieving her of her basket and candle, placed them on the table. +There was no need to ask the result of the search; Tarleton's face was a +proclamation of defeat. After a few pleasantries with Barry as to how he +had guarded the steps, and how many ghostly spies he had seen gliding up +or down, Joscelyn opened the dining room door, saying, with a return to +her stately courtesy:-- + +"And now, Colonel Tarleton, we will finish our task, an it please you. +His lordship will be consumed with impatience for your return." + +Sullenly Tarleton followed her lead; he intercepted the glance she shot +at Barry, and felt himself a butt for her ridicule, and his temper was +not improved thereby. The ransacked pantries and closets gave up nothing +that was alive except a mouse, at whose wild antics, Joscelyn and Barry +laughed like a couple of children, their mouths full of cake which the +girl had cut from the loaf on the shelf. It was such a relief to laugh, +to do anything to ease the tense strain upon her nerves and composure. +It was raining without, and she sat with Barry by the dining room fire, +while Tarleton and the orderly investigated the cellar and the +outbuildings. Those few moments alone with her finished the subjugation +of the young man's heart. He knew that for him there could be no +happiness in the future unless she shared it with him; and he was +telling her so in hesitating whispers--for his very earnestness had made +him shy and awkward--when the return of the searching party put an end +to the interview. + +Joscelyn stood upon the veranda as Tarleton mounted for the ride, and +cried out with her tantalizing mockery:-- + +"Commend me to his lordship, and say that you came upon a fool's errand, +and carry back but the fruit of such a quest." + +She would have said more, but her mother plucked her by the sleeve with +frightened command; and so with an enchanting change of manner she +turned to Captain Barry, who had lingered on the step, and begged that +he would ere long give them again the pleasure of his company. Her words +were meant more as a rebuff to Tarleton by contrast with the sharp +things she had said to him; but the younger officer construed them into +an acknowledged preference for himself, and his quick pulses throbbed +with a foretaste of that sweetest victory a man can win--the capture +of a beloved woman's heart. As he rode away with his companion, he knew +not if it still rained or was clear; the mud of the streets might have +been drifts of bright-hued blossoms for all the notice he gave it; even +his resentment against Tarleton was forgotten in this sweet dream of +love which, amid the shadows of war, had suddenly opened before him +as a flower unfolds its petals to the dawn. At supper with his +fellow-officers, he heard none of the jests upon Tarleton's failure of +the evening, so busy was he recalling every word and look of the girl +who in one short week had made the world as a new creation for him. The +time for his wooing would be short, and the morrow was too remote for +his impatient heart; and so ere another hour went by he was again +knocking at her door. Much to his chagrin, he found other guests before +him, for hardly had he quitted the house ere Mary Singleton arrived and +announced that she meant to tarry all night. + +"Eustace and some of his friends are coming later; so, my dear, you must +let me run upstairs at once and change this damp gown for something more +comfortable and becoming. When you see who is with Eustace, you will +understand why I want to look so charming. My maid has my bag in the +kitchen. Come." + +Another menace! Would she never be free from discovery, Joscelyn +wondered. And taking her friend by the shoulders, she pushed her +playfully into the parlour. + +"'Tis easy enough to guess who is coming, by the happiness in your eyes. +But there, go make your duty to mother while I have a fire kindled in my +room; then shall you make yourself as beautiful as a dream ere it runs +to a nightmare." + +Upstairs she raced, stopping in the hall only long enough to unlock the +attic door. In her room was a slight noise; and she was about to call +Richard softly, when by the fireplace she perceived the maid blowing the +coals into a blaze. + +"That will do, Peggy. Go down at once and get a pair of your dry shoes +for Mistress Singleton's maid, that she may shortly be ready to help her +mistress dress." + +Peggy obeyed; and then Joscelyn heard her name called, and saw the +curtains of the bed-tester shaken as by some one standing behind them, +and Richard's head and shoulders came to view. Answering the look in his +eloquent eyes, she put out her hand with a quick impulse to meet his; +but at that moment the door was flung open, and Mary rushed in. + +"They have come already, and 'tis as much as my chances with Edward +Moore are worth to have him see me in this garb; so I fled for my life," +she cried, laughing and panting together. + +Joscelyn dared not look toward the bed curtain; surely, the fates had +combined against her! She stood quite still and let Mary run on with her +confidences concerning young Moore, salving her conscience with the +thought that a second listener could not matter when a human life was at +stake. But when Mary, too intent upon the mirror to look at the bed, +shook down her hair and began deliberately to unfasten her bodice, +Joscelyn grew desperate. She could not permit this. + +"Wait until--until the fire burns, Mary," she cried, that she might +gain a few minutes to think. But Mary only laughed and went on +unhooking, raving about blue eyes and a tall figure; to all of which +Joscelyn agreed, striving to fasten the hooks again until Mary pushed +her off in a small pet. Then, with a last frantic effort, she upset, +with a palpably awkward movement of her elbow, a pitcher that stood on +the dresser; and as the deluge of water came down she cried to Mary to +go at once to her mother's room, where was a better fire, and she would +follow with her things. It was a most open bit of acting, without a +shadow of plot or diplomacy; but Mary was too intent upon her love +affair to notice, and so went obediently into the next room, talking +still of Edward Moore. As Joscelyn gathered up some ribbons and lace +from the bed, she whispered as though to the curtained post:-- + +"The attic door is open--there is no one in the hall." + +Then did the post seem suddenly alive, for a hand caught hers, and a +voice full of love and gratitude said in her ear:-- + +"God bless you! Good-by." + +Ten minutes later, trying the attic door, she found it locked from +within; and, leaving Mary in the hands of the maid, she went down the +stair with a light heart, for the day's trials were over at last, and +she might cease to wrack her brain for expedients and deceptions. Other +guests had followed Barry, and the house was soon full of echoing +laughter and snatches of song, with the low hum of conversation, like +the ripple of a brook, running ceaselessly underneath the lighter +sounds. + +As soon as Joscelyn laid eyes on Eustace she knew something was amiss, +and he was not long in letting her know what it was, upbraiding her +bitterly for her cruel speech of last night. + +"You were not content that those rude men were searching her house, but +must add to her humiliation. What demon of cruelty possessed you?" + +"It was the meanest thing I ever did," she said, with something like a +sob; "and, Eustace, if you can only get Betty to forgive me, there is +nothing I will not do for you." + +"Small chance I have to win forgiveness for you or favour for myself," +he answered gloomily. "I wish I had been here last night; she should +have known she had at least one friend, though I lost my commission by +it. Only once have I seen her, and then but for ten minutes, with her +mother freezing the life out of us with her cold stare." + +"If I arrange a meeting between this and your departure, will you spare +a few moments from your wooing to plead for me?" + +"Yes; but can you do it?" + +"Slip away up to mother's room and write her a note; I will see that she +gets it this night," and, mollified, he went. + +Upstairs in the attic, shivering under the blankets behind the big +chest, Richard hearkened to the subdued echoes of gayety from below and +went over thoughtfully the events of the day. All the morning and +afternoon he had felt the nets closing about him, and when he read +Joscelyn's hasty warning he knew that death stood at his elbow. Not that +hope died, but what could hope do in such straights? He made ready as +she bade him, folding the blankets and straightening the carpet, putting +his boots into a barrel under a lot of old shoes and odds and scraps. +Then with his ear to the door, he had waited for what seemed a dragging +age. Always his care was for Joscelyn. Even when, during the search, the +door was opened, and he stood crushed against the wall with his would-be +captors and murderers not six feet away, the uppermost thought in his +mind was for her, anxiety for her safety, admiration for her magnificent +courage. Slipping out of the room in that momentary darkness, he had +felt like a traitor deserting the thing on earth dearest to him, and had +cursed the fate that sent him away. But the supreme moment came when, +crouching by her bed, he saw through the tester curtain the British +officer pause in the door with his lifted light. One step out into the +room, and the flimsy curtain could not have hidden the figure of the man +behind it. On that one more step hung life or death. Breathless, Richard +waited, his unsheathed dirk in his hand. He knew this man,--hated as no +other Englishman was hated through the length and breadth of the +land,--standing thus unconscious of any danger, was utterly within his +power. One strong upward blow where the heart was left uncovered by the +lifted arm, and the cause of American liberty would lose one of its +deadliest enemies. But the guards below, the soldiers swarming in the +street--and Joscelyn! At thought of her the murderous instinct in his +soul was quelled, and without so much as a relaxed muscle, he saw +Tarleton turn from the room. Then he had hidden himself more carefully +and waited for her coming. Mistaking for her the maid who came to light +the fire, he was near to self-betrayal; and he could not remember how he +had gotten out of sight when later on Mary burst into the room; but +lying now at full length under the sloping rafters, he smiled at the +measures Joscelyn had used to dispose of her, recognizing that subtle +loyalty which would, in dire straits, give up a friend's love secret to +another, but would not without an effort sacrifice that friend's +modesty. + +Brave girl, what a spirit and resolution were hers! And yet he had seen +her cry over a dead wren and flinch from the sight of his hunting-gun. +And how many trials and perils he had drawn upon her by his presence, +although if taken he had resolved to live only long enough to proclaim +her blameless. Well, when the revel down below should be over, he would +steal away, for he would be a source of danger to her no more. And, +besides, Greene needed his information. He must face his fate and take +what chances he might; that was a scout's fate and duty; and so he +planned his course. By and by he left his couch and stood at the door to +try and separate Joscelyn's voice from the medley of sounds that made +their way up to him; the least scrap of a sentence would be as balm to +his aching heart. But he listened long in vain; all was a confused +babble; then suddenly a voice called her, and she answered clearly that +she was sitting on the stair with Captain Barry. And somebody said, "Of +course." And then there was a general laugh that somehow set Richard's +blood in a strange tingle of pain. + +So she was sitting there just below him, within sight if he but dared to +crack the door. And such a longing came upon him that he did turn the +key and made a little opening, and saw the back of her head and her +scarlet bodice as she bent down to some one sitting below her. A keen +jealousy smote him; who was her companion, was he handsome or homely? Of +course he was making love to her; no one could look that close into her +eyes and not love her. And she,--was she smiling with the sweet shyness +he loved but wanted no other man to see? It was only by a supreme effort +of will that he dragged himself away and fastened the door again. Would +they never go, those idle gossiping people with their thoughts absorbed +by pleasure and merriment--never go and let her come to him for just one +minute of divine joy? How he hated them all for staying; and above all, +how he hated that man on the stairs whispering his heart into her ear. + +Presently there came the clatter of dishes, and then he remembered he +had had no supper and it must be close upon midnight. With the coming of +the dark the wind had risen and the garret was bitterly cold; but busy +with plans for his escape and with thoughts of her, he scarcely noticed +how stiff and numb his limbs were. + +An hour later there were calls of "good-by," and the sound of opening +and closing doors below, mingled with shrill feminine voices calling for +wraps, and out in the street the stamping of horses. Then silence +reigned, and he knew the guests had departed. Presently there was a slow +tread upon the stairs, and Mistress Cheshire called back some directions +to those below. Then a lighter, quicker step followed, and Mary +Singleton went singing to Joscelyn's room. Fifteen, perhaps twenty +minutes of intense silence went by, and then a slender thread of light +shone under the door; and so faint as to be almost inaudible, a tap fell +on the panel. Quickly as possible he drew the bolt and opened the door, +but only just in time to see Joscelyn enter her own room and close the +door. On a table, in reach of his hand, stood a shaded candle and beside +it was his supper. It was for this she had called him; but hungry as he +was, he forgot it in his bitter disappointment that he was not to speak +to her. Time pressed, however, and soon he was back in the attic, +devouring the food she had left. Particularly grateful to him was the +mug of steaming hot tea. + +"Tax or no tax, it cheers me up, temptress that you are, sweet +Joscelyn. Perchance a Continental toast may override the Royalist +poison lurking in it, and so I pledge Nathaniel Greene and his trusted +scout--particularly the scout." He laughed softly as he drained the cup. + +Physically he was strengthened and warmed for the flight before him, but +his heart was heavy with disappointment and dread. Once he abandoned the +idea of attempting to escape; the house had been searched and the guard +removed, therefore he was safer here than anywhere else, and he must see +her before he went. But more unselfish council prevailed; it was not his +safety only that must be considered. The knowledge he had gained would +be of inestimable value to Greene; the going of the guard left the way +open to him, and it was duty, not personal inclination, that must +dictate his course. + +He waited until the tall clock below chimed one, and then made ready for +his departure. He had resolved not to tell Joscelyn of his plans even if +he might have spoken with her, for he wanted her sleep troubled by no +anxiety for him; but the yearning of his heart found expression in the +farewell he left upon the senseless panels of her door. Then, boots in +hand, he crept downstairs and into the dining room. Here the rear door +fastened with a latch, the string of which was drawn inside at night. +Softly he stepped out, closing it behind him, and stood a moment pushing +the string back through its hole, that those behind might be safe; then, +hugging the fence, he crept to the gate and was soon in the alley +outside. The darkness, the soft mud, and the howling wind were all in +his favour. He knew his way even in the gloom, and so, making now and +then a detour to avoid a public street or a possible sentry post, he +came at last to the outskirts of the town, keeping always in the +direction opposite the British camp. The bridge he knew must be well +guarded, and so must the road over the mountains; hence he kept directly +across the fields to where the river bends under the cliff called +"Lovers' Leap." Ahead of him, behind a clump of bushes, burned a low +fire, and he crept up on hands and knees to hear what the two men +sitting there were saying. One of them was surlily poking the fire:-- + +"If we break camp to-morrow, how the devil can we march over such soggy +roads?" + +"The Guildford road is not so bad," was the answer; and although Richard +waited a long time, he heard nothing else. And so like a ghost he crept +into the drifting rain and soon gained the river, repeating to himself +that last sentence which might be the keynote to the British movements. + +His knowledge of the country folk stood him in good stead, for soon he +was untying a canoe from a gum tree not far from a lonely cabin. Often, +when a boy, he had gone with the owner fishing in this boat, tying it up +to the tree roots when the day's sport was done. The river was turbulent +from the recent downpour, and in the darkness he went further +down-stream than he intended; but at last he drew into a cove of weeds +and reeds, and leaving the boat there he plunged into the forest beyond. +But he was not lost, and ere the dawn came he had found a friend, and +well mounted he pressed on to carry the news he had gathered to the +American camp; and as he rode, he thought always and with a gnawing +bitterness of the view he had had of Joscelyn's head as she bent down to +catch the love words of that invisible suitor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +GOOD-BY, SWEETHEART. + + "Yet all my life seems going out + As slow I turn my face about + To go alone another way, to be alone + Till life's last day, + Unless thy smile can light the way!" + --ANON. + + +In the early morning, before the family were astir, Joscelyn dressed +herself hurriedly and went to the attic door. It was ajar. With a quick +premonition of evil, she entered and whispered Richard's name. No answer +came; no one was there. Then the truth flashed upon her--he had gone, +risking everything rather than further expose her to discovery and its +dire results. How chivalric, and yet how insane! Of course he would be +captured, or else he would perish with cold and hunger this bitter +winter weather. She looked about carefully; not a scrap of a note had he +left to say good-by. She had not dared to wait to speak with him last +night, lest Mary discover them; but now she reproached herself, feeling +that she might have prevented this mad mistake. She had meant to come +back after all was quiet, but Mary talked so long that for very shame +she had not dared to do so, dreading his man's judgment of a visit at +such an hour. + +She was now in a nervous tremor, and feared to have the maids come in, +lest they announce that the spy had been taken; and when they came but +said naught of it, she began to look for news from outsiders. Several +times during the morning meal she glanced across to Aunt Clevering's +house with such a tempestuous pity for the old lady's coming sorrow that +her eyes shone with tears; and her mother, seeing them, thought that +it was sorrow for the estrangement she had wrought between the two +families, and resolved to tell Ann Clevering about it. + +"Come, Joscelyn," said Mary, looking up from her plate, "an you eat no +breakfast and keep your mouth pulled down at the corners like that, +we'll be thinking Captain Barry left unsaid the things he should have +said last night." + +"I know not what you think he should have said--but he was very +charming," the girl said, rousing herself. + +"Particularly when you two sat on the stair and whispered so long." + +"The time seemed long to you because just at that time Edward Moore was +talking with Pattie Newsom." + +"Well," answered Mary, tossing her head, "it was quite as long to him, +for he said it seemed years while he was from me." + +"Poor Pattie!" + +But all the time she jested her heart was full; and she kept her eyes on +the opposite house or watched those who passed in the street to guess, +if possible, if they carried news to the commander's quarters. The rain +had passed in the night, but toward dawn the wind had crystallized it +into sleet, so that in the sun the ice-dight world sparkled like a jewel +catching the light upon its many facets and kindling each with a +different flame; everywhere was a brilliant silvery glisten with gleams +of amethyst and agate, ochre and opal like momentary meteors in the +marvellous dazzle. What a day to be hunted across country like a wild +animal by human bloodhounds! What a day to die by a bullet, or, worse +still, on yonder historic hill as the Regulators died! + +The hours wore on, and still no tidings came. Joscelyn went restlessly +from room to room, unable to fix her attention upon anything. It was +close upon ten o'clock when the thud of hoofs resounded outside, and a +minute after Barry entered the room. Evidently the news he brought was +of a gloomy character, for his face was clouded. + +"The spy--they have caught him!" Joscelyn cried, leaning heavily on her +chair. + +"The spy? What do you mean--what is the matter that you are so pale?" +The solicitude in his voice was not unmixed with a curious surprise. +Then when she hesitated over her answer, he said; coming quite close to +her, "Why are you so interested in this spy?" + +Then in a moment she was herself again. "They say it was he who saved +my life on the commons; should I be true to my womanhood if I dismissed +him from my thoughts? I tell you frankly I wish him well." + +She returned his gaze quietly, and he took her hand with a deference +that was an apology. "And I, too, wish him well for that service, no +matter what he may have carried to his general to our undoing--for he +has not been taken. I am a soldier and a servant of the king, but in my +heart of hearts your safety is more than the safety of Lord Cornwallis's +whole command." + +His reward was a dazzling smile and an invitation to sit with her upon +the sofa, which action brought him within a foot of her. He longed to +lessen even that distance, but comforted himself with the thought that +his hand might creep to hers at the first softening of her manner. + +"What made you think I brought news of the spy?" + +"You were so grave I thought naught but an execution could be in +progress." + +"It is indeed a kind of execution, for this is to be my good-by," he +said sadly. "We march in two hours; already camp is broken, and +preparations are being made." + +"And this decision was reached--?" + +"Late last night at a council of officers. This spy has carried away +information about our position that Greene could use to our defeat; +that, with other reasons, brought about the decision. I did not sleep +one moment for thinking of leaving you." + +"And the search for the spy is given over?" + +"Yes." + +She could not repress a sigh of relief, but he did not so interpret it. +Mary had withdrawn to the window, and her mother had left the room; they +two might as well have been alone. + +"My God, how I shall miss you!" cried the young fellow at last, +desperately. "You see I never loved a woman before, and so I know not +how to bear this parting." + +"You are a soldier," she said gently. "A soldier endures any pain +manfully." + +"Yes, but no sword thrust ever hurt like this. You are glad you have met +me?" + +"Very glad." + +"And you will miss me and think of me sometimes?" + +"Many times." + +"And when the war is over, I may come back and--and claim your love?" + +He had taken her hand, and she could not at once draw it away, for a +strange hesitation was upon her. "I cannot promise," she said at last. +"Ten days ago I did not know you." + +"Yes, but ten hours taught my heart its lesson for life, and war makes +quick wooing." + +She slowly but firmly drew her hand away. "I cannot promise; but I love +no one else." + +"Then I will wait and hope." + +A few minutes later a bugle sent its shrill call down the wind. He +sprang up and hastily shook hands with Mary and Mistress Cheshire, who +had just returned to the room; but, answering his pleading glance, +Joscelyn followed him into the hall that the others might not witness +the emotion of his parting with herself. + +"Try to love me," he said, and was gone; and watching him as he passed +out of sight, she felt that her hands were wet with the boyish tears +that had fallen on them as he carried them to his lips in a fervid +farewell. And suddenly she asked herself what happier fate awaited her +than to accept this love poured out so prodigally at her feet. The +question brought serious thoughts, so Mary found her but dull company +until other visitors arrived to say also their farewells. One of these +brought a note from Lord Cornwallis. Would she not come and witness +their departure? + +"Mother," she said, coming downstairs in her habit, "I shall not be at +home this afternoon; call Betty over to sort her wools out of my +knitting-bag; she will find it on the spinet. And while she works over +it, go you once more to Aunt Clevering's, if you please, and intercede +for me; Betty will not mind being left." + +Thus did she plan to leave the way open to Eustace for a hasty farewell +to his sweetheart. + +A little past noon the drums rolled out their hoarse commands, and the +British army was on the move. An unrestrained excitement ran riot in +the town. There were blaring bugles and flaunting flags, and everywhere +glimmers of red as the corps passed onward. At the head of the British +columns rode Lord Cornwallis, and at his bridle-rein went Mistress +Joscelyn, the picture of good humour and coquetry, with a scarlet +cockade in her hat, and an officer's sash tied jauntily across her +breast from shoulder to waist. The rich colour of the silk brought out +by contrast the sea-blue lights in her eyes and the glossy gleams of her +hair. Men forgot the martial pageant to look at her; and when at the +home pier of the river bridge the staff paused, the salutes from the +passing soldiers were as much for her as for the general beside her. +There the parting came, the officers falling in at the rear of the +troops when the last company had passed over. As Eustace passed +Joscelyn, he lifted the lapel of his coat, on which was a purple +aster,--the like of which grew nowhere save in Betty's dormer +window,--and said with a happy smile:-- + +"Your plan worked well, sweet Joscelyn. Ten minutes of heaven compensate +a man for hours of purgatory. May the fates be as kind to your own +heart." + +But it was Barry who lingered behind the others for one last look and +word, and then went clattering over the bridge, and left the girl to +return to the town with the few Tory women who had dared to share her +ride. They had been bold enough at the start, with all the king's army +at their backs, but to go back unprotected by martial power was quite +another thing; anti-Toryism would now hold sway, and they knew what that +meant; so at the entrance of the town the others turned aside to find +their homes, which fortunately were near at hand. But Joscelyn lived at +the far end of the town, and must needs pass the whole length of King +Street ere she gained her door. + +The street, which for the past week had been almost deserted by the +patriotic townspeople, now swarmed with eager men and women; but +Joscelyn's thoughts were too full of Richard's escape and Barry's wooing +for her to note the angry glances directed toward her. It was not until +she was passing the wooden building that had served Cornwallis as +headquarters for his staff, that she became aware of the hostility she +was exciting. Then a voice called out to her to take off that hated +insignia she wore; and ere she realized what was happening, four or five +boys had surrounded her horse and were snatching at the sash ends that +dangled from her waist. Her anger flamed up to a white heat at this +insult, and she laid about her with her riding-whip until they let her +be. A volley of light missiles followed her as she went on her way, her +horse curbed to a walk because she was too proud to seem to fly. The +same pride kept her from dodging the paper balls and bits of soft mud +that rained around her, and now and then struck her skirts and +shoulders. Thus, looking neither to the right nor the left, she went +slowly onward until a little urchin, springing to the middle of the road +in front of her, shouted insolently:-- + +"Out upon you for a Tory jade!" + +His companions screamed their encouragement, thinking to see her +discomforted; but leaning out of her saddle she said, with that smile +that had played havoc with so many older hearts:-- + +"Thank you, Jamie, for calling me such a beautiful name. Were the +examples I helped you to work last week quite right? You must come again +when you get in trouble over them, that I may save you from another +flogging." + +The boy, remembering her timely aid, drew back abashed, dropping the mud +he had been wadding together in his grimy hand; and taking advantage of +the momentary cessation of hostilities, Joscelyn waved them a laughing +salute and cantered away to her own door. But in the privacy of her room +she broke down and sobbed out the excitement and suspense of the past +two days. The courage which had defied and cheated Tarleton and put the +riotous urchins to shame melted away in that burst of tears, and a +woman-like longing for protection and safety surged through her. If she +might only go away, or if there were but some one to stand between her +and this weary persecution! + +The first object upon which her eyes rested as she lifted her head when +the weeping was past, was that ill-fated scarf with which Barry had +decorated her that morning at headquarters. What a world of meaning +there was in it! Perhaps nothing could so have drawn her heart to the +absent officer as this silent messenger of his love. She folded it away +carefully, lingering a moment ere she shut it from sight to recall those +last words he had whispered in her ear ere he followed his comrades over +the river. All the rest of the day they echoed in her thoughts, calming +her by their earnest tenderness. + +"Betty came for her wools?" she asked her mother at bedtime. + +"Yes. And I forgot to tell you that after I had gone from the house +Eustace Singleton came to say good-by to you. When I returned from +Ann's, I found him in the parlour, where his presence must greatly have +annoyed Betty, for she was red and flustered. I am sure I was sorry, but +I was in no way to blame for her disturbance." And then tearfully she +went on to tell how her mission with Aunt Clevering had again failed. + +The change that came upon Hillsboro' with the going of the British was +as swift as it was pronounced. Where before had been sullen repression +among the people, all was now animation and exuberance of spirits; the +Tories were intimidated, and the place bristled with patriotic +evidences. It was as though a slide had been slipped in a stereopticon, +and a new picture projected upon the canvas. All the talk now ran on +Greene, who had moved down from the Dan and lay upon the heights of +Troublesome Creek, only thirteen miles from where Cornwallis had pitched +his own camp. For nearly two weeks the entire country watched with +panting interest these two generals play their advance-guards and +reconnoitring parties against each other as though they were so many +ivory figures upon a chessboard. Then came the meeting at Guildford +Court-house, the fame of which blew through the land like a sirocco's +breath. + +"Lord Cornwallis has won the game at Guildford," cried Joscelyn. + +"Ay, won it so hard and fast that he has had to run away to hold the +stakes," retorted Mistress Strudwick, equally rejoiced over the British +retreat to Wilmington. + + "Had the militia but done their share, we should have finished + Cornwallis for good," Richard wrote to Joscelyn after the battle. + "But praise be to Heaven, Banastre Tarleton is among the wounded. I + do hope and believe it was my bullet that hit him, for I singled + him out for my aim, remembering his bearing to you and my mother + last month. If so I hear that his wound proves fatal, I shall wear + no mourning." + +And, truth to say, Joscelyn herself sorrowed never a bit over the short +colonel's discomfiture. Later on came another letter:-- + + "We are on the march to the south to aid Marion, Sumter, and + Pickens to snatch South Carolina and Georgia from the foe. We know + of the terrible doings of Arnold in Virginia, and General La + Fayette has been sent to check him, but much I doubt his success. + Ye gods! what a soldier we lost when Arnold went over to the enemy + in that traitorous way. He was the one man in our army who was + Tarleton's match in a raid. If the Marquis catches him, however, I + should like to be at the reckoning. A traitor with the fire of + genius in his veins! At Guildford I looked at his old command, and + said to myself that the day had gone differently had Arnold led + them. Men followed him like sheep to victory or to death. Think you + what a demon it takes to harrow one's country, to fight against + one's own people!" + +As the weeks passed and the spring advanced, Joscelyn's position in the +community grew more irksome, for Tory supremacy was at an end and the +patriotic spirit was dominant. "Only the rudeness of some excited boys," +the older folk had said of the incident of her homeward ride the day the +British withdrew; but it was rather the true index of the public temper +against her, and not a day went by but she was made to feel it keenly. +Never was an occasion to annoy her neglected, until between her and her +neighbours was a bloodless but harassing feud that destroyed utterly the +old harmony and good will. She felt the change bitterly; every neglect +or retort rankled in her thoughts until it became as a fester corrupting +her happiness. But she kept a brave face to the world, and sang her Tory +ballads on the veranda in the soft spring twilights, or as she worked +through the sunny hours in the side yard where no flowers but those that +blossomed red were permitted to blow. And Mistress Strudwick said to her +cronies, with genuine admiration, that twenty Guildfords could not break +the spirit of a girl like that. + +But necessarily the thing that hurt Joscelyn most was Aunt Clevering's +treatment. Not content to be a spectator, she often took the initiative +in the persecution the girl was made to suffer, ignoring her in public +or noticing her only to taunt her with some uncivil word or look. A few +sentences from Joscelyn might have swept away the barriers and restored +the old friendship, but she would not buy her pardon thus. She possibly +might not be believed without the proof of Richard's letter, that first +short, fervid missive he had sent her on the eve of the great battle; +and that she could not show, not even to his own mother, such a heroine +did it make of her, such an ardent, grateful lover of him. Then, too, if +this quarrel with Aunt Clevering should be healed, people would ask +questions, and when the truth should be known she would be in no better +plight--a Tory maid risking everything, even life itself, to hide a +Continental spy! Neither friends nor foes would understand; her motives +would be misinterpreted, her loyalty questioned; and so her last estate +would be no better than her first. Thus did she hold her peace and hide +her tears under cover of darkness, the while by day she sang her daring +little ditties among the growing things of her garden. + +Having been the arch-Royalist of the town, it was but natural that +public resentment should be most pronounced against her. The Singletons +and Moores were less outspoken, and so drew upon themselves less of +contumely. Her caustic speeches, on the contrary, were not forgotten, +until Mistress Strudwick threatened half tearfully, half playfully to +clip her tongue with her sharp scissors. But the chief thing that kept +alive the animosity against her were the letters that came to her now +and then from Cornwallis's camp. She did not deny their reception, but +steadily refused to divulge their contents; and as it was believed that +in one way or another she contrived to answer them, the idea got abroad +that she was in the employ of the British general to keep him posted as +to the state of things in Hillsboro'-town. Nothing else could so have +set the people against her as this supposed espionage, and all through +the advancing summer she felt the weight of their displeasure. Mistress +Bryce openly denounced her, boys shouted disrespectful things under her +window at night, and the shopkeepers so neglected or refused her orders +that, had it not been for Mistress Strudwick, she and her mother would +have suffered; but that good friend stood stanchly by her. So loud were +the outcries against her when she rode abroad that out of deference to +her mother's wishes, and also to save herself from needless +mortification, she never had the saddle put upon her horse. + +And yet innocent enough were those letters that caused so much of +trouble, filled as they were, not with army news, but with a man's +tender love throes,--the vehement pleadings of a heart swayed by its +first grand passion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +BY THE BELEAGUERED CITY. + + "Peace; come away; the song of woe + Is after all an earthy song: + Peace; come away; we do him wrong + To sing so wildly: let us go." + --TENNYSON. + + +The summer seemed interminable, lit all along though it was with the +glimmer of lilies and iridescent gleams of parti-coloured roses. It was +the season of the year which Joscelyn loved best; but now the ceaseless +sunshine, the mosaic marvels of the turf, the kaleidoscopic changes of +earth and sky wearied her, so that she longed for the coming of autumn. +It came at last, unfurling its red and yellow banners in the woodlands, +and setting its russet seal upon the meadows. And with it came the news +of the siege of Yorktown; and the town of Hillsboro' waked to new +enthusiasm and thrilled or shuddered at every alternating rumour. + +And in each of those far-away armies on the York was a man who watched +the sun go westward every eve, and sent a silent message to a girl with +dark hair and sea-blue eyes who pruned her roses in a new garden of the +Hesperides beside the Eno. Unknown to each other, their thoughts had +yet a common Mecca. But fate was not content that they should stand +thus forever apart. + +In Yorktown, Cornwallis had thought to be safe either to escape to +Clinton or be rescued by that general's fleet sailing down the Atlantic +from New York. But instead to the east, in Lynn Haven Bay, De Grasse's +ships held the passes to the sea; while on the land side--one wing on +York and one on Wormley creek--in two great crescents stretched the +lines of the allied armies, with Warwick creek running darkly between. +Over the tents that gleamed in the autumn sunshine there flew, side by +side, the stars and stripes of the Republic and the _fleur-de-lys_ of +France. And there were sallies and repulses, and daily encroachments and +skirmishes between the allies without and the British within. + +It so happened one day that Richard's company was detailed to guard the +ditchers who were making a new trench, and throwing up a fresh line of +breastworks that would enable them to draw yet nearer to the red-coated +pickets. Already these latter had been forced--by the horns of that ever +encroaching crescent--to withdraw twice, and now a third retreat seemed +imminent. But not without a struggle would they yield their posts; and +so presently, on that mellow autumn day, a flash of scarlet came in the +sun as an assaulting column swept out toward the projected line where +the shovels were at work; and the Continental guard, after discharging +their guns with signal success, waited with fixed bayonets to receive +the advancing column. It was a fierce contest fought almost hand to +hand; then the Redcoats began to fall back, and with a quick rush the +Continentals turned their retreat to a rout. + +Returning from that fierce charge with the flush of the fight upon him, +Richard came upon a man lying prone upon his face in the stubble--the +gallant English captain who had led the sally. He had seen him as he +fell far in advance of his column. There the retreat had left him inside +the new lines of the Continentals, and finding him still alive, Richard +turned him over softly so as not to start his wound afresh; and as he +did so he caught one word from the pale lips:-- + +"_Joscelyn._" + +The name unlocked the floodgates of the young Continental's sympathies. + +"Dunn," he said to the man in front of him, "give me a hand, that I may +get this poor fellow to my tent." + +"The surgeon will find him here directly and have him moved to the field +hospital." + +"He could not stand so long a trip; see how near he is already gone with +this bullet hole in his side. Come, I have a fancy not to see him die +here in the wet grass." + +So Dunn lent his aid, and the wounded man was put down in Richard's +tent, murmuring again that talismanic name. + +"He may possibly live till morning," the surgeon said, when at last he +came from attending to his own men, "but he cannot be moved. I will try +and send some one to look after him." + +Richard touched his cap, "If you please, I am off duty to-night; I will +willingly nurse him, if so you give me directions." + +And the man was left in his care; and during the slow hours, word by +word and sentence by sentence, he patched together the fevered ramblings +of his patient, until he knew that the Joscelyn of his own hopes and +fears and dreams was identical with the girl of this other man's +thoughts. + +With the knowledge something seemed to catch at his throat, to tighten +about his heart; and he went out and stood awhile at the tent door, +gazing up into the clear heavens whose steadfast stars were shining also +on the distant Carolina hills, watching a window behind which a girl lay +sleeping--dreaming perhaps of the man yonder on the pallet. Had he lost +her through this other one? Was his life to miss its one strong purpose, +in missing her? + +By and by, when he was calmer, he came again to the pallet where the +dying man lay, and picked up the sword which, along with his own, was +propped against the canvas wall of the tent. It was of beautiful +workmanship with a crest on the jewelled scabbard, and below a graven +name which, by the light of the tallow dip, Richard at last spelled +out:-- + +"Barry." + +He stood thinking for a moment. Why, this then was the man for whom +Ellen Singleton had mistaken him that night he played the squire to her +in a borrowed military cloak at the fête in Philadelphia. What strange +fate had brought them thus together? "The finest officer who wears the +red, and a lady-killer," Dunn had said. And that tightness gathered +again at Richard's heart, for where else had he heard of the man? + +Stay, was not Barry the name--Yes, it was the very name he had heard +coupled with Joscelyn's that night while he lay hiding in the freezing +attic. "She is sitting on the stair with Captain Barry." The very tones +of the speaker came back to him, bringing again that thirsty desire to +open the door and look for her which he had not been able to resist, +though life itself might pay the forfeit. + +He went back to the pallet, and bent down that he might see the face of +his patient. So this was the man who had won her away from the rest of +her company, the man to whom she had bent down so low that from the rear +only the dark crown of her hair could be seen as she sat on her +steps--this was the man to whose love tale she had listened smilingly, +while he himself was a prisoner hiding for his very life. A lady-killer, +Dunn had said; and well he could believe it from the traces of manly +beauty still lingering in the suffering face. A fierce jealousy tore at +his heart. Evidently, from his ramblings, Joscelyn had listened to this +other's wooing, and had written him letters, while she mocked him and +sent him never so much as one little line in answer to all the pages he +wrote her. He had always known that other men would love her,--it could +not be otherwise with her sweetness and her beauty,--but always in his +thoughts she had kept herself for him. Had it been a false hope; had she +loved this brave Briton who called upon her with such pathos of +tenderness? If so, then was his own dream-castle in ruins. + +By and by, just before the end, there came a lucid hour. The wounded man +turned his eyes questioningly upon his nurse. + +"I found you after the fight, so far in our lines that your own men had +missed you in their retreat, and the surgeon left you in my care," +Richard said gently. + +"To die? Yes, I see it in your eyes." + +"You fell at the head of your men, as a soldier wishes death to find +him." + +The other smiled faintly, "My mother will perchance be a little +comforted by that. You will write her?" + +"Yes--And Joscelyn?" + +"Joscelyn?--how do you happen--?" + +"You talked of her in your delirium. She lives in the Carolina hill +country. I, too, know her and--love her." + +And then each told something of his story to the other; and they clasped +hands as brave men can when enmity and prejudice and jealousy are +swallowed up in the wide sympathy that lurks forever in the precincts of +the Great Shadow. + +"And when the war is over, and I tell her again of my love," said +Richard, with that impulsive generosity that was ever one of his +characteristics, "I will tell her also of yours--and mayhap she will +choose rather to cherish your memory than to give herself to me." + +And Barry turned his face to the wall and died, whispering his love for +her to the last. It was a strange scene, this midnight confessional +between two men who, all unknown to each other, had striven for the same +heart-goal--who in life would have been bitter and unrelenting rivals, +but who met and parted amid the shadows of death as friends and +brothers. Richard wrote it all to Joscelyn, eloquently, passionately; +portraying faithfully every emotion of the dying man. + + "He loved you, Joscelyn, even as I do; only not so much, for + methinks no man could do that. But he was brave and manly, and to + have won his heart is proof of your sweetness and worth. He told me + many things of that fearful night when I lay up in your garret, and + downstairs you held your guests from all suspicion by your tact and + courage. He hated Tarleton for his distrust of you, and I let him + go to the far Shore in ignorance of how you saved me, fearing that + he would not understand, and that his last moments would be + imbittered by a useless jealousy. + + "Did you love him? Am I breaking your heart with this news, my + best beloved? If so, remember, I beseech you, how my own would + break to know it." + +And Joscelyn read the letter by the fading sunset, and then sat with wet +eyes through the star-haunted gloaming, thinking of the young life that +had gone out in the red trail of war. She missed him as it did not seem +possible she could have missed any one who had been so short a while in +her consciousness. + +And sitting thus alone with her sorrow, she felt a hand on hers and an +arm slip around her neck. + +"Joscelyn, I could not stay away any longer," whispered Betty's voice in +the dark. "I had both of your notes; I know you are sorry, and I miss +you so much!" + +"Dear Betty, dear Betty, how glad I am you are come! I cannot tell you +how lonely and wretched my life is, and now my--my true friend is gone!" +and with her head on the girl's bosom, she gave way to a nervous +sobbing. + +"Did you love him?" Betty asked, when at last she understood. + +"I--I do not know; but I have so few friends, and he loved me and +trusted me, and I shall miss him." + +"Did you wish to marry him?" + +"I cannot say. Sometimes when I have been very lonely, and you all +turned from me, I have thought I did. To marry him and go away to a new +place and new friends seemed best. He was strong and brave, but he was +gentle and considerate, and he never hectored me--a girl likes not to +be hectored and quarrelled with in her courting." + +"No," answered Betty, sadly, understanding she had Richard in mind. +Often, with a woman's instinct, she had pleaded with her brother to +humour Joscelyn more in her way of looking at things; but he had chosen +to attempt to set her right, or, at least, right as he saw it. + +"I must be going; mother is at Mistress Strudwick's and will be angry if +she knows I came here," Betty said at last, rising with a sigh. But +Joscelyn held her back with both hands. + +"Not yet, Betty, not yet; we can see her far down the street by the +lights from the windows. Stay a little longer; it is such a comfort to +have you." + +"I wish I could come without this deception." + +"I, too, with all my heart." + +"You had a letter to-day; was it from Master Singleton?" + +"No; it was this sad one from Richard, by the same messenger that +brought yours. The last letter I had from Eustace was the one I sent you +some two weeks ago. Since he was then on the eve of going to New York to +carry letters to General Clinton, it is not likely he is among those in +the beleaguered city of Yorktown." + +"I have been so glad to think this," Betty answered, sighing. "Do you +know, Joscelyn, I saw him in the parlour yonder for a few minutes the +day the British marched?" + +"Yes; I told mother to have you here, and then I sent him back from +headquarters." + +Betty kissed her gratefully. "I might have guessed it. It was such a +happy ten minutes! But, Joscelyn, mother never mentions his name except +to remind me that his father and mine were bitter enemies." + +"Wait until Richard comes home; he doubtless will look at matters +differently; and as he says, so will your mother do." + +"Not unless you plead for me; and even that may not now avail, for he +may share mother's anger against you." + +"Richard will not be angry with me when he returns," Joscelyn answered +confidently; and Betty kissed her softly. + +"Oh, Joscelyn, if it could only have been Richard instead of Captain +Barry to win even this much of your heart! But there, I must be going; +some one is coming down the street." + +"You will come again sometime?" + +"Yes, for I have wanted you so much." + +"And I you." + +They held each other close for a moment, and then Betty ran across the +street and dodged into the shadow of her own door. Her visit helped +Joscelyn immeasurably, in that it gave her a sense of sympathy. But she +could not shake off the depression of Richard's news; it was a +culmination of the long strain upon her nervous system. In the +succeeding days she had fits of silent brooding which sometimes, in the +sombre twilights, ended in tears. For the first time since the news of +Lexington, her neighbours found her grave and preoccupied. The fearless +badinage with which she had met every attack upon her partisan creed was +suddenly stayed, as though she heard not their thrusts and innuendoes. +And Mistress Strudwick watched her with a vague uneasiness, longing to +see the old, quick passion flame up now and then. + +But this frame of mind was rudely broken by the thrilling news of the +fall of Yorktown. She had expected it for days, but the reality roused +all of her former spirit, and put her once more upon the defensive. + +"Lord Cornwallis has surrendered?" she said calmly to Amanda Bryce and +the two gossips, who had run in to tell her the news and to gloat over +her discomfiture. "'Tis most courteous of you to bring me the +information so swiftly; you are quite out of breath with your race. I +shall immediately write my sincere condolences to his lordship that +wrong has triumphed over right. Will you not have a cup of tea with me, +ladies?--there is no longer any tax. No? Then I have the honour to wish +you a very good morning. Pray come again when you have further tidings." + +She set the door open for them with the air of a sovereign condescending +to her subjects; and they went away humiliated and furious. + +"From the airs she gives herself, one would think Joscelyn Cheshire had +royal blood in her veins," they said angrily. But when Mistress +Strudwick heard of the scene, she laughed long and heartily. + +"They deserved it, the carping crones! Would I had been there to see +them routed. Thank Heaven her spirit has come back; how I love her for +it, unreconstructed Tory as she is!" + +Never again was Joscelyn to deck herself in her scarlet bodice in honour +of an English victory; never again to tease her neighbours with her +taunting Tory ballads. The war was over; she had lost her cause; and +with her life all out of attune with her surroundings she must face the +inevitable. Seeing the relief in her mother's face, she could not be +sorry that peace had come, though the terms were bitter; and so even in +her loss was there something of compensation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +HOMECOMINGS. + + "The bugles sound the swift recall; + Cling, clang! backward all! + Home, and good night!" + --E. C. STEDMAN. + + +The war was over; the drums lay unbeaten, the snarling trumpets sang +their songs no more upon the level plains or sloping sides of far blue +hills; liberty had triumphed, and the scarlet insignia of kingly rule +had gone from the land forever. But peace did not bring the desired +order of things. The unstable government of an untrained congress could +not control the spirit of maraud and chaos that had so long dominated +certain classes of people. Eight years of warfare had left its scar on +the whole country, but particularly in those portions where the fighting +had fallen. The sanguine among the triumphant contestants had looked for +an immediate rehabilitation of affairs, thinking that the taps of war +would be the reveille of commerce and order and prosperity. But as yet +Americans were better soldiers than statesmen. They had to learn to +govern themselves, learn to wield the mighty power they had won; and at +first knowledge was slow in coming. Private wrongs were remembered, +individual grievances were recalled. The spirit that refrained from +shouting over a fallen foe at Yorktown manifested itself at home in many +petty ways against the defeated Tories, so that among these latter was a +feeling of unprotected helplessness that made them sullen and restive. + +"Joscelyn," Mary Singleton said, coming in one day when the winter was +at its fiercest, "father says he is going to Canada to stay until things +get settled. We cannot stir from our gate without receiving some +rudeness, and our property is threatened with confiscation, piece by +piece, on the ground that we used it to aid the king's cause. Will you +come with us? We would love to have you." + +"No, for my mother would not think of such a thing; and where she is, +there will I stay." + +"Well, you had no man in the war; but against us the enmity is strong, +because Eustace actually bore arms in the king's service." + +"Will Eustace go with you?" + +"No; he writes that as soon as he gets his discharge, he means to return +here and accept whatever fate comes to him." + +"I am glad. That is the right way to take his defeat. Your father is old +and worn with annoyance, but Eustace is young enough to meet the +struggle and win his way. Trust me; all will be well with him in the +end," and Joscelyn's eyes were on Betty's window over the way. + +"Edward Moore joins us in New York," Mary said, with a blush. + +"And I shall not be there to play the part of bridesmaid! Well, I shall +content myself with putting a handful of rice and an old shoe into your +trunk." + +After the Singletons were gone, Joscelyn was very lonely, for the only +house at which a welcome always met her was Mistress Strudwick's. + +"You may say what you please, Amanda Bryce, but that girl comes here +when she likes, and stays as long as she pleases; and if there is +anybody I'm gladder to see, I do not know who it is," said the stanch +old lady. + +Soundly she lectured Joscelyn at times, but the fault-finding always +began and ended with a caress, so there was no sting in it. Here the +girl sometimes met Betty; and the older woman, seeing the desire of +their hearts shining in their faces, encouraged them to be friends. +Here, too, Janet Cameron often came, and after the visit walked home +openly with her arm in Joscelyn's, making merry little mouths at +Mistress Bryce as they passed her door. These visits and walks were +Joscelyn's chief pleasure, and she stood sorely in need of recreation, +for of late she was thinner and more irritable than her mother had ever +seen her. + +"You need a course of bitters," Mistress Strudwick said, opening her +medicine-box one day. + +"I have been taking such a course for eight years." + +"Yes, Amanda Bryce's tongue drips not with honey! But I shall talk with +your mother, and between us we will take you in hand and get the edge +off your nerves." So Joscelyn dutifully yielded herself to her two +physicians, who took much delight in the teas and tonics they brewed for +her. + +During all these autumn and winter weeks, Richard Clevering had lain in +the field hospital at Yorktown, racked with pain and fever from the +wound he got when--singing a song of the Carolina hills--his regiment +stormed that gun-girt bastion on the British left, and the colonies were +free! + +Things would have gone better with him had he been content to lie still +and let the bones knit; but he could not stay away from that last scene +of the surrender, which made all the privations of the past worth while. +To miss that was to miss the joy of life, the glory of the fight, the +crown of the conqueror; and so he had pretended to be much stronger than +he was, and had gone to stand in his place when the British, with silent +drums and cased banners, marched from their surrendered fortifications, +and stacked arms between the martial lines of French and Continentals. +The sight compensated him for the pain the exertion entailed, so that he +never complained when, afterwards, the surgeon shook his head gravely +over the fever that flushed his veins. He had had his heart's desire; he +would bear its results. + +But in the early part of January, seeing a tedious recovery still ahead +of him, and the hospital facilities being so limited, he asked to be +sent home to be cared for by his own people. There would be no more +fighting, and his stay was an unnecessary burden upon the army +officials, whose hands were full trying to keep down the spirit of +insurrection that was fermenting the camp over the delay in the +soldiers' pay. To relieve the strain upon the moneyless army coffers, +many of the men who had been invalided were allowed to return to their +homes. Thus it was, that Joscelyn, unconscious of the extent of the hurt +that had come to him--for he had written no particulars home--and also +of his dismissal, answered a knock at her door one bleak January day, +and gave a great cry at sight of the weary man leaning against the +veranda railing, with an empty sleeve pinned helplessly to the bandaged +arm beneath. + +"Richard Clevering!" + +"Ay, Richard come back with a crushed arm, but a sound heart to claim +you, unworthy though he now knows himself to be of such a prize, +Joscelyn, Cornwallis has struck his martial colours, will you surrender +to me for love's dear sake?" + +He had come into the hall and closed the swaying door against the wind, +while she retreated backward until she stood close to the wall, her +hands behind her. + +"I owe you life and all the gratitude that means, but it is out of my +love for you, which has grown with every hour of my absence, that I ask +this--will you come to me, Joscelyn?" + +She did not speak, but slowly she shook her head, her eyes meeting his +with a curious compassion. For one long minute he looked at her, +searchingly, yearningly; then his outstretched arm fell to his side. + +"Then is the war not over for me," he said sadly. + +He went with her into the sitting-room, and, with the luxurious +hearth-glow brightening his face and taking that deathly pallor out of +it, the while her magnetic presence kindled a tempestuous fire in his +veins, he told her the story of that final surrender and of his hurt, +softening the former narrative as best he might, remembering how she had +wished it otherwise. Then with a half-whimsical, half-pathetic touch +upon his bandaged arm, he said:-- + +"The surgeon said that with time and care this would heal, but the +accident has left me but one hand wherewith to begin that other campaign +which means so much to me,--for if I win you not, I might as well have +perished at the hands of the Redcoats." + +As she listened, while the afternoon wore away, she was conscious of +some change in him. Not that his tone showed less of resolution to +achieve his purpose; it was rather an absence of the over-weening +self-confidence which had so offended her in the past. Five years of +warfare and baffled wooing had taught him something of self-distrust, +something of humility which became him well. The empty sleeve and the +emaciated, listless figure touched her with a quick pity, in such +violent contrast were they to his former robust activity and superb +proportions, so that she sighed and turned her face aside. + +And he, on his part, was studying her, finding again, with a thrill of +joy, the same saucy curves about her lips, the same glinting blue lights +in her eyes that had held his heart captive in the past; and noting, +too, the touch of womanly dignity which had in some wise supplanted the +impetuosity of the old days. The girl of eighteen had become a woman of +twenty-three since that day she had laughed down upon the Continentals +marching away to Valley Forge. But there was not an attraction lost; +rather was every charm ripened and perfected by the hallowing touches of +growth and development. If he had loved her in the past, a thousand +times more did he love her now in her splendid womanhood. Had she cared +for Barry? Always the question was a stab; and with it now there came +the first quick doubt of the final healing of his arm. Could she ever +love him if he should be maimed like this forever? + +Looking up suddenly, she found his eyes upon her face in such a wistful +gaze that she flushed involuntarily, and a painful silence fell between +them. Intuitively she felt that this was not the same Richard who had +gone away, this earnest, tender man with not a trace of arrogance in his +manner. Had he always been like this, they need not have quarrelled. She +had been willing to overlook much had he only left her a right to her +own opinions, and treated the views her father had taught her with +respect. + +"Do you know," she said, breaking the pause with a little nervous laugh, +"that if you are to preserve the good will of your neighbours, you must +stay away from me?" + +"Then do I this minute forswear their friendship, for to stay from you +would be to remain outside of Paradise. Only tell me one thing,--you did +not hate me for the news I wrote you of Barry?" + +"Nay, it was the one of your letters I felt drawn to answer." + +He took her unresisting hand and kissed it softly. "If you loved him, I +would I had died in his place." + +And then again that silence fell between them, while at his heart was +biting that most helpless of all jealousy--the jealousy of the dead. +Against a living rival one may contend with hope; but when that on which +the heart is set has come to be but a memory, incapable of blunder or +cruelty, the contest becomes useless, or pitifully unequal. Yearningly +Richard's eyes studied the face before him, and yet he would not ask her +the question that burned in his heart. Some day she would tell him the +truth of her own accord; until then he must wait and suffer. + +His return, she foresaw, was to be to her at once a relief and an +embarrassment, for she would not consent to his making public her share +in his escape of the winter, lest it look like a plea on her part for a +cessation of hostilities. + +"I have held my own against them all these years; I will not ask for any +terms, now that the end has come, and my side has gone down in defeat," +she said. + +"But, Joscelyn, think how they would adore you for such a service to +their country! My information was most useful to General Greene." + +"I did it not for sake of their country." + +"Well, then, for sake of their countryman. They love me, if you do not." +He leaned toward her laughing, yet pleading; and she noted how honest +and pleasant were his eyes. But she held to her point against all of his +arguments; and so he was feign to yield except in regard to his mother; +there he was firm. + +"I never dreamed but that she knew, for the quick movements of the last +campaign left no time for letters to reach me from home. Had I not +thought you would tell her as soon as the British were well out of town, +I should have asked a furlough, and come home to set you right. To think +what you have suffered for saving my poor life!" + +And so it was that half an hour later Mistress Clevering came hastily +in without the ceremony of knocking, and taking Joscelyn in her +arms,--to Mistress Cheshire's amazement,--said many grateful and +affectionate things. + +"When I think of what you have done for us, I am bowed down with +humiliation for the cruelty with which I have requited you. Oh, my dear, +my dear! had you only told me and your mother at the time, things would +have been very different." + +"Yes," answered the girl, demurely, "so different that Master +Clevering's life would have paid the penalty of his daring. Nay, it was +a game at which only one could play with safety. You could have done +naught but share my anxiety, and that were no help." + +"And to think how I have scolded and blamed you for the quarrel between +me and Ann," said her mother, tearfully; but Joscelyn's tender answer +comforted her. + +"And here comes Betty to make her peace with you, too," Aunt Clevering +said, as the breathless girl entered. + +"Oh, Betty and I have been friends these many weeks, as dear Mistress +Strudwick can testify," Joscelyn said, putting her arm affectionately +around Betty, who with a grateful cry had sprung to her side. And from +the doorway, Richard thought he had never seen a more beautiful picture. + +Thus was the breach that had yawned between the two families healed; and +the sorest ache in Joscelyn's heart was cured as she witnessed the +happiness of her mother who, with a firmness scarcely to be expected, +had given up her old friend and held stanchly to her daughter, although +she held that daughter to blame. It was touching to see her childish +delight in the renewal of the old relations. A dozen times a day she was +in and out of the two houses, for Richard's wound afforded her many +pretexts for kindly ministrations. He never left his bed except to lie +on the sofa by the window, for his strength seemed suddenly to have +failed him after the sustained effort he had made to reach home. Often +he wished Joscelyn would come in her mother's stead; but for her own +reasons the girl kept her distance, so that sometimes he did not see her +for days together. And every day that she stayed away the jealous pain +bit deeper into his heart. + +But one day she came of her own accord. There had been a knock and the +sound of a man's voice at the door, followed by the maid making some +excuse for Mistress Clevering; and presently, when all had grown silent, +Betty came through the sitting-room with a face so white that Richard +called out from where he lay to know what was the matter. But she did +not stop to answer, and so he waited in a troubled doubt while the clock +ticked off a slow twenty minutes. Then the door opened, and Joscelyn +came straight up to his couch, a strange light of pleading in her eyes. + +"Richard," she said, and his face brightened, for she had taken to +calling him Master Clevering with a formality he hated. "Richard, if a +man be true and honest and loves a woman, should he not have the chance +to tell her so and win her?" + +"Most assuredly." + +"And old feuds and differences of a former generation, with which he had +nothing to do, should have no weight to hold him back?" + +"Why--what mean you?" + +"This; that even as you love me," and a brilliant colour dyed her cheeks +at mention of it, "so does Eustace Singleton love Betty." + +"I had half guessed as much--and I am sorry." + +"And Betty loves him. Nay, lie still and look not so angrily at me. +There is no one to blame; a woman's heart, like a man's, asks no +permission in the giving of itself." + +"But Betty knew--" + +"Yes, she knew all the opposition in store for her, and she made her own +fight; but love takes no dictation." + +"Right well do I know that." + +"Then you have no room for a quarrel with her; rather should your +sympathy be on her side. All her happiness is set on Eustace; he is her +true lover, has been for years,--and I have resolved so to aid her, that +you and Aunt Clevering shall not break her heart by a cruel and useless +separation." She stepped back and threw up her head; just so had she +looked a year ago, when she bade defiance to the short colonel while he +himself crouched in her shadowy garret. For a moment they gazed at each +other steadily, then she was again beside him, her eyes luminous with a +gentle entreaty:-- + +"Richard, if--if I loved you with all my soul, would you let my mother's +dislike, if she did dislike you, stand between us?" + +"My God, no!" + +"Eustace is a man like you--and Betty loves him like that." + +He saw the drift of her meaning but he did not answer, and thus for +another minute they looked into each other's eyes unwaveringly; then his +gaze fell, and with a sudden delicious softening of manner, she stooped +and took his hand. + +"Richard, Eustace is yonder in my parlour,--come back like a brave man +to begin life all over, and suffer anything to be near Betty. He has +been denied entrance at your door. Bid me bring him here to you. If +not--then will I take Betty to him, even though I should thus lose yours +and Aunt Clevering's friendship forever." + +"You make hard terms." + +"I am dealing with a hard man." + +"Think you so, sweetheart? Methought I had ever been gentle to you. +Betty's happiness is very dear to me--" he broke off, sighing. She still +held his hand, or rather he held hers, for his was the stronger grasp. +Suddenly, with that same enchanting gentleness, she bent close to him, +and laid her cheek against his tingling fingers:-- + +"Thank you, Richard, for yielding; I knew when once you understood, you +could not be so cruel as to refuse. I will bring Eustace at once." + +"But, Joscelyn, I did not say--" + +"Oh, but you looked your consent--and I never saw your eyes so +beautiful, such a tender gray." He flushed with pleasure, still, +however, protesting; but she was already at the door, whence she looked +back at him with a roguish smile, "I shall give you half an hour to make +Aunt Clevering see things as we do. At the end of that time I will be +here with Eustace; and if you wish to go on being friends with me, be +sure to have on your very best manners and--and that beautiful light in +your eyes." + +She kept her word; no one ever knew what passed between Richard and his +mother, but an hour later Mistress Clevering, stiff of lip, but +courteous of manner, bade Betty take Master Singleton from Richard's +room to the parlour, and find him some refreshment. And when Betty had +obeyed, Joscelyn softly closed the door behind them, shutting them into +a rose-hued world of their own, where it were sacrilege for another to +intrude. Upstairs she heard Richard calling her entreatingly, but +remembering by what means her victory over his prejudice had been won, +she pretended not to hear, but ran swiftly into the street, and reached +Mistress Strudwick's door with such a glowing face that that lady +exclaimed:-- + +"Hoity-toity, child! still letting your cheeks play the Royalist, +although the war is done? Your sweetheart should see you now. In sooth, +I think Amanda Bryce would even agree that you are pretty. Come here and +tell an old woman what all these blushes mean." + +And Joscelyn's fibbing tongue said it was only the race she had run in +the wind from her door. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +AN UNANSWERED QUESTION. + + "As o'er the grass, beneath the larches there + We gayly stepped, the high noon overhead, + Then Love was born--was born so strong and fair." + --GIPSY SONG. + + +Although Joscelyn continued to hold herself aloof from Richard, yet she +was conscious of his protecting influence in other ways besides the +healing of that family quarrel that had been such a burden to her and to +them all. Most of the women of her set continued to cut her outright, or +to treat her with the scantest courtesy; but there were no more threats +concerning her; the boys who had hooted under her window left off their +insolent ways, and the merchants and tradespeople no longer gave her +indifferent service. And in all this she recognized Richard's work, for +he had openly espoused her cause, and had let it be known that those who +offended or ill-used her should later on be answerable to him. From the +day of his coming, she felt herself shadowed by an unobtrusive but +persistent watchfulness that plucked many a thorn from her path; and +after the stormy months that had passed, she could not but be grateful +for the calm. Invalid though he was, she intuitively felt his to be the +stronger will, and made no fight against what he did in her behalf. The +protection for which she had longed had come to her, and she was glad to +feel his strength between her and her persecutors. Never in any boastful +way did he remind her of the defeat of her cause; and tacitly she +acknowledged his generosity. The very perils they had shared drew them +together with that subtle bond of sympathy a mutual interest creates; +and so seldom was there a return to their former sparring that Mistress +Strudwick protested she knew not which had the better manners. + +"I declare, my dear," she said, pinching Joscelyn's cheek, "you are so +beautifully behaved of late that I begin to find you a bit tiresome. +Methinks I must stir up Amanda Bryce to pay you a visit and talk over +the war, or else we'll all be stagnating for lack of excitement." + +"Well, after these eight years of fermentation, stagnation is just now +the special estate to which I aspire." + +"So? Well, Richard here prefers the estate of matrimony. Is it not true, +my lad?" And from the sofa Richard's eyes said yes; whereupon the old +lady went on, nodding her head with mock solemnity, "And since one of +you wants stagnation and one wants matrimony, I am not so sure but that +you are of the same mind, for some folk find these things of a piece. +And so, miss, you may have come around to Richard's way of thinking +after all." + +And seeing Joscelyn stiffen, Richard was sorry that the conversation had +taken such a personal turn; for the two had come in to pay him a visit. +That was one thing that troubled him--she never came by herself; always +it was her mother or Betty or Janet Cameron she brought with her as +though she feared to trust herself alone with him, wishing, perchance, +to hear no more of his love-making. And even with these others she came +so seldom. He could not go to her, for the hard rough journey home had +racked his arm and set the fever to throbbing again in his blood, and he +must remain quiet, or dire consequences were threatened. + +But one February night, when she had stayed away several days, and +the longing in his breast grew unbearable, he sent for her. The wind +without howled like some hungry creature seeking its prey, and the +white-fingered spirit of the snowstorm tapped weirdly at his window. But +he gave it no heed; storm or shine, he must see her this night of all +others; and so a word of entreaty was sent across the street. She came +at once, a brilliant apparition in a scarlet shawl over which the snow +lay powdered in shining crystals; on her lips and in her eyes the smile +of which he had dreamed in the copper and crimson sunsets on the +prison-ship. He gathered her cold hands into his feverish ones. + +"You knew I must see you this night?" + +"Yes; I felt you would send for me, for I knew we were thinking of the +same things." + +"A year ago to-night you and I stood in jeopardy of our lives." + +She nodded; all day she had been living over those fearful hours of +which this day was the anniversary. + +"Yes, a year ago to-night Tarleton held us in his toils." + +"We have never talked of that dreadful time; now I want you to tell me +everything you can recall of it. Sit down." + +As she obeyed, the wide shawl fell away and left in sight the silver +brocade of her gown, and her shoulders rising white and beautiful from +the lace of the low bodice. He started, and raised himself upon his +elbow. Was he dreaming? No; the powder and the rose were in her hair, +the saucy patch at the corner of her mouth. She had not forgotten; just +so had she looked when she faced Tarleton, and risked her womanhood for +his own safety. He could not speak, but his eyes did full homage to her +beauty. + +"I knew you would send for me, so I was ready," she said, and smiled +again. So it was for him she had robed herself thus!--there was a thrill +of ecstasy in his veins. And then when he still did not speak, for sheer +joy of looking at her, she began to talk of that terrible day; and both +of them lived over in a quick rush of memory all its hopes and fears, +its uncertainties and dangers. Her fingers were icy cold, and the very +tremors that had then possessed her, crept again through her veins as +she went from scene to scene, and he learned for the first time all of +her deceptions and trials. So absorbed was she that she did not even +know he had taken her hands in his, until she felt the hot pressure at +the end of her narrative. Then when there seemed nothing left to tell, +and he still looked at her in a silence more eloquent than words, she +grew restless and rose to go; but he caught her skirt. + +"Not yet, not yet! Betty is happy with her lover in the parlour, and +mother is somewhere down there acting propriety or else fast asleep. For +this one evening, at least, you shall belong to me." + +And then when those hot, trembling fingers had drawn her again to her +seat, he went on:-- + +"There is one question I have wanted to ask you all these months--" And +then, for very fear of her answer, he hesitated and substituted another. +"Why did you not come back to me that last night? You knew I was waiting +for you, longing for you with every heart-throb." + +"It was so late." + +"Late? What mattered an hour on the dial when I wanted you so much?" + +And she flushed and hesitated, remembering she had not gone back at that +unseemingly hour lest he should misunderstand her; men were so cold in +their judgments. Looking at him now she was ashamed of that doubt of +him. + +"Was it in truth the lateness of the hour, or--or because of what Barry +said to you on the stair? I opened the attic door and saw you, and I +knew he was talking of his love. My God, how I envied him! Was it for +that you stayed away from me?" + +She turned her head aside with a gesture that hurt him like a +knife-thrust. Then the question that had burnt in his thoughts, and +filled his heart with cankering jealousy all these weeks, came out:-- + +"Joscelyn, did you love him? Tell me the truth in mercy." + +Slowly her eyes came back to him, soft and blue, and kindled with a +flame he had never seen before. He rose on his elbow to meet the answer, +eager yet fearful; but before she could speak, Betty opened the door. + +"Eustace and I are coming to sit with you awhile, Richard, for you two +must be better acquainted," she said to him; and with the blindness that +is a part of love, neither she nor Eustace saw that their coming was +unwelcome. Before they left, Joscelyn had slipped away, carrying his +question and its answer in her heart. But before she went to bed, she +opened the box where she kept her treasures, and kneeling in front of +her fire, laid upon the glowing embers the scarlet sash of an officer in +the king's service. + +"I have no right to keep you any longer," she whispered, as the silk +cracked and crinkled, and passed away in a smoke-fringed flame; "no +right, for now I know, I know!" + +The quiet of the town was now frequently broken; for as February drew to +a close, some of the soldiers began to straggle home, some on furlough, +some on dismissal. Billy Bryce, hungry for the toothsome things in his +mother's pantry and impatient for a sight of the yellow curls that +sunned themselves on Janet's head, came first. But ten minutes spent in +that young woman's company so dampened his spirits, that for days his +mother's utmost efforts in culinary arts failed to tempt him. Janet knew +the very hour of his arrival, and she also knew that it was two hours +before he came to seek her. She could not know that his stay with his +mother had been as unwilling as it was dutiful; so to complicate matters +a little more she had gone out to pay some calls that might have waited +a month. But he found her at last on Joscelyn's porch, her hands in her +muff, her curls bobbing from under her hood to the fur-trimmed tippet +below, where the winter sunshine seemed to gather itself into a focus. +He waved to her from halfway down the square, but she only squinted up +her eyes as in a vain effort at recognition. + +"Well, I declare," she exclaimed patronizingly, as he sprang eagerly up +the steps, "if it isn't Mistress Bryce's little Billy! Why, Billy, +child, you must have grown quite an inch since you went away. How is +your dear mother to-day?" + +Her tone and manner were indescribably superior, as though she were +talking to a child of six, so that the amazed and abashed boy, instead +of hugging her in his long arms as he wanted to, took the tips of the +little fingers she put out to him, and stammeringly and solicitously +asked if she had been quite well since he saw her last. She said it was +a long time to remember, but she would do the best she could, and +immediately began to count off on her fingers the number of headaches +and toothaches she had had in the past two years; until Joscelyn, sorry +for the boy's unprovoked misery, stopped her abruptly, and finally sent +Billy across the street to pour out his disappointment to Richard. + +"Janet, you little barbarian, you have no heart!" + +"Oh, yes I have," replied that imperturbable young woman; "I have a +great big heart for a grown man, but you see I do not particularly care +for children who are still dangling at their mother's apron string." + +Even a lecture from Richard, to whom she was much attached, did her no +good; for all the while he was speaking she sat studying the effect of +her high-heeled shoe on Betty's blue footstool, and answered his +peroration about Billy's broken heart with the utterly irrelevant +assertion that Frederick Wyley said she had the prettiest foot in the +colonies. Did Richard agree with him? So Billy's cause was not advanced +any, and Richard began to advise him to think no more of this +yellow-haired tormentor. + +"I declare, Billy Bryce looks like a child with perpetual cramps," +Mistress Strudwick exclaimed to Joscelyn one day, when the lad passed +the window where the two sat; and then she glanced down the room to her +medicine-box. + +"But it is a course of sweets, not bitters, that he needs," laughed +Joscelyn. "It's his heart and not his stomach that ails Billy." + +"Half the lovesickness in the world is nothing but dyspepsia; mighty few +cases of disappointed affection outlast a torpid liver." + +"I never heard you make such an unsentimental remark." + +"You never heard me tell such a truth. Bone-set and senna is the thing +for Billy, and I'll see that he gets a bottle; if it does not cure his +disappointment, it will at least kill off that particular brand of long +face he is wearing. No wonder Janet turns up her nose at him." + +"Yes, I begin to think she is permanently at outs with him." + +Then other soldiers began to arrive. Thomas Nash got sick-leave from +Washington's staff; and from the south came Master Strudwick, more +anxious for a sight of home and wife than for the gold which the +dissatisfied army was awaiting; and out of the north came Peter Ruffin, +a weird wraith of his former self, to tell anew the horrible story of +the prison-ships. The other Hillsboro' man, who had been with him had +succumbed to the plague, and gone to swell the number of those at whose +shallow graves the hungry sea was forever calling. + +"And Dame Grant?" asked Richard, when Peter came to see him. + +"She, too, fell a victim to the disease of the hulks, and sorely did we +miss her. I knew you had escaped in safety, because one day she came to +the ship wearing a new woollen hood, and when we twitted her about it +over the rail, asking her if it was a lover's gift, she said that Dick +Clevering's sweetheart had sent it to her out of gratitude from the +south." + +"I helped to knit it," Betty cried, while Joscelyn's eyes were not +lifted from the floor. In the semi-twilight of the room, Richard reached +out and touched her hand gently. + +"It was like your generous heart." + +"But I made it out of the reddest wool I could find, with never a touch +of blue or buff," she answered, laughing; but Richard was content. + +Nor did these home-coming men bring the only tidings from the outside +world. Now and then letters came that set the tongues to wagging; now +with news of Washington's refusal of a crown, now with a description of +Mary Singleton's marriage to Edward Moore. Janet refused persistently to +show her letters which came in the Halifax post, but one day Richard had +one from Colborn that made him laugh with delight:-- + + "The miniature is set in a narrow gold frame, without jewels; for + although I won my promotion, it was only a lieutenancy. However, I + am content. It was at Guilford Court-house, in your own Carolina + country, the day Tarleton was wounded. Soon I am going home, with + my pockets full of American pebbles, to claim the original, and + bring her back here to this great country to enjoy the freedom I am + glad you won." + +And when Joscelyn went home, after hearing the letter read, she again +opened her box of treasures and took from it a shining gold piece, and +looked at it with a startled sweetness in her eyes. + +[Illustration: "'MY HEART'S PRISONER FOR TIME AND ETERNITY.'"] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +THE END OF THE THREAD. + + "Does not all the blood within me + Leap to meet thee, leap to meet thee, + As the spring to meet the sunshine!" + --"Hiawatha." + + +After a few weeks Richard was able to leave his couch and move about a +little, still hampered, however, by splints and bandages; for in his +fevered tossings he had hurt his arm anew, and the setting had to be +gone over again. The doctor's face was very grave as he warned him +against another accident. + +One afternoon, being lonely and having no better way to pass the time, +he went with Betty to her sewing society. There he protested he wished +to make himself useful, and was quite willing to snip threads and tie +knots. But his offer was received with scoffs, and instead he was +forthwith enthroned in the best chair, served with coffee by one girl, +and with cake by another, and petted and praised like a prince. + +"And now," said Janet Cameron, taking the stool at his feet and +preparing to look very busy, "while we sew, you shall tell us a story of +your camp life,--something that will make our blood curdle and tingle +like it used to do when the war messengers rode into town, and we knew +not what tidings they brought." + +"Yes, tell us a story, Master Clevering," they all cried, and settled +themselves to listen. + +"Let it be about a real hero, Richard; and make him as tall as Goliath +and as strong as Samson. We'll credit anything you say," laughed Janet, +biting off a length of thread. + +"And if you wish to keep Janet's attention to the end, give him jet +black hair and call him Frederick," cried Dorothy Graham. Whereat there +was a general laugh, and for which personality the speaker got a prick +from Janet's needle. + +"One need not draw on his imagination for heroes in these stirring +times, Janet. The land is full of them," Richard answered, catching one +of her shining curls and twisting it about his finger, "though of course +jet black hair and the name of Frederick is a combination to inspire any +story-teller." + +And then he told them of Monmouth day,--of its exultant beginning, its +strange changes and chances, its palsying despair, its victory snatched +from defeat. And while the story was nearing its climax and the needles +were idlest, who should pass along the opposite sidewalk but Mistress +Joscelyn Cheshire, her skirts held daintily out of the slush and snow, +while a riotous March wind set her throat ribbons in a flutter, and +kissed her cheeks to a glow a lover might have envied. A more charming +vision it was hard to conjure up, and the story-teller's narrative +faltered, and his words trailed off into silence as he gazed. But +immediately the slumbering ill-will of the sempsters began to show +itself in sundry nods and head tossings. + +"There goes the Tory beauty," said one sneering voice, "parading herself +before us out of very defiance, no doubt." + +"She has been but to old Polly Little's to carry her some soup," Betty +said hotly. + +"And there was no other afternoon for her to go, and no other path to +take but the one by this door where we might see her! You and Richard +are foolish to be always defending her; she showed you small gratitude +last winter, telling the secrets of your house." + +"Yes; and we know she sent and received spying letters about us to the +British commander. I never speak to her, Tory ingrate that she is!" + +And then while Betty fell to crying and Janet scolded back, declaring +Joscelyn was better than all of them, the criticisms grew so harsh, and +so incisive were the shrugs and lifted brows, that Richard forgot his +wound, forgot the pledge of secrecy upon him, forgot everything but his +anger, and rising up, cried out:-- + +"Listen; I will tell you another story, not of a hero, but of a heroine, +a slip of a girl whose courage equalled anything I ever saw upon the +bloodiest battle-field, in whose presence the bravest of the brave must +uncover in reverence." + +And then he told them the whole story of his hiding and escape while +Cornwallis held the town the winter gone. Told it forcibly, graphically +as he knew how, putting Joscelyn in such a heroic light that her +maligners held down their heads in shame and confusion, feeling +themselves to be all unworthy in comparison; and Dorothy was crying upon +her sewing, and Janet's arm was about his neck in an unconscious, +breathless gratitude for Joscelyn. + +And those letters which had excited their wrath?--there was nothing of +treason or espionage in them; they were but love notes from a British +officer whose chivalric homage had been an honour to any woman. He knew, +for he had put her answers into the breastpocket of the young officer +the day they buried him from the battle-field on the banks of the river +that flows forever to the sea. + +So he finished; and thus did Joscelyn stand before them at last in her +true colours. + +Then with the heat of his anger still upon him, and not waiting for +Betty, Richard got his hat and quitted the house. After that scene, the +air of the room stifled him. He could not be sorry for what he had done, +but he must go straight to Joscelyn and tell her himself, and make what +peace with her he might. He could better afford to bear her anger than +to hear her maligned by those who would be utterly incapable of her +courage or her sacrifice. He had always known he must tell his story if +he heard her slandered. + +He was very weak from his long stay indoors, and the excitement of the +scene through which he had just passed had left his brain dizzy, so that +he was all unfit to take the homeward journey alone. He did not notice +the ice on the crossing until suddenly he felt himself slipping--faster, +faster. He made one frantic effort to regain his balance, missed his +footing, and came down with a crash and a groan upon the jagged +cobblestones. He heard a woman's voice scream out in terror, saw +Joscelyn kneel beside him, and then he fainted. + +It destroyed his last chance,--that terrible fall,--the doctors said; +for the arm had again been fractured and lacerated beyond cure, and to +lose it was the one hope of life; and even that hope was but a slender +one. When Joscelyn heard this, she stayed all the afternoon in her room, +holding the gold piece very hard and tight and weeping bitterly. + +But the operation was successful; and for long days the patient lay +quiet, getting back his hold on the world. His recovery was slower even +than had been expected, but it was sure, and that was enough for +thankfulness. His mother was telling him this one gusty April twilight, +when Joscelyn came into the room on one of her rare visits. The door was +open, so they had not known she was there; and stopping to remove her +wrap, for the day was cool and showery, she heard the end of their talk. + +"Fretting is wrong, Richard. You should be thankful for so sure a +recovery." + +"Perchance I should; but what avails health when a man may not have that +which is dearer than the strength of giants?" + +"And what may that be, my son?" + +"Joscelyn. I love her--love her beyond all words, all thoughts; and now +I shall never possess her." + +"I had long ago guessed your love for her," his mother said slowly; then +added, after a pause, "but I see not why you should not possess her; you +have a true heart, a goodly property, and a shapely figure which this +accident will scarcely mar; a man like that has but to ask--" + +"Nay, that is just it; a man maimed like me has no right to hamper a +woman's life--to ask her love. She is grateful for the protection I have +brought her, but she has no thought for me beside. I lie here and watch +that clock every hour of every day, longing to see her come, hoping for +some sign of awakened love, but there is none. That she comes so seldom +is evidence that she means me to understand this. I shall never dare ask +her again to marry me, but I shall love her always--always." + +There was an infinite pathos in the last words that silenced his mother, +and drew something like a sob from the girl in the shadow of the +curtained door. How generous he was; how brave and true he had always +been! Never once, even in their days of quarrel and make-up, had she +known him lacking in courage and generosity. What would her life be now +without him, for had he not made all the crooked ways straight before +her; had he not given her back the love and esteem of her neighbours, +her old place in the community? Was it not to him she owed all this, and +her mother's happiness besides? Gratitude, did he say? Surely that was +not all there was in her heart, for gratitude did not make a girl shy +and sensitive and dreamy. It was not gratitude that had made her weep so +passionately over his suffering and his loss, and kiss a senseless coin +in the dark of her chamber. From that hour she had worn it in a silken +bag about her neck; she drew it out now and held it in her trembling +fingers. + +Presently Mistress Clevering rose and quitted the room by another door, +unwilling that Richard should see her emotion. Joscelyn hesitated upon +the threshold, held back by a palpitant timidity, until across the +firelit silence there came her name in a sigh that was half a sob:-- + +"Joscelyn--lost--lost!" + +Then with a sudden resolve she came out of the shadow into the dim light +of the room, and kneeling by his couch, drew his one arm over her +shoulder and laid her head on his breast. + +"I am here--Richard." + +"You? Dear love, dear love, what does this mean?" + +"Can you not guess?" she whispered, slipping the gold piece into his +hand, her own tremulous with emotion. + +"I dare not." + +"What was the gold piece to be?" Her voice was scarcely more than a +thread of sound. + +"Our wedding ring--at least, I hoped so once." + +She pressed his fingers together over it, her face still hidden on his +breast. "Give it back to me sometime--in that shape." + +"You mean you will marry me? Speak quick, beloved!" + +"I mean that--that the war is over, and I surrender myself--your +prisoner, an you will take me." + +"My heart's prisoner for time and eternity; thank God!" + +A burned-out log snapped and fell to either side of the andirons, +sending a shower of golden sparks up the wide chimney. She raised her +head and looked at him, and by the fleeting gleam of the fire he found +at last the love-light for which he had so long waited shining in the +depths of her sea-blue eyes. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: + +Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors; otherwise, +every effort has been made to remain true to the author's words and +intent. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Joscelyn Cheshire, by Sara Beaumont Kennedy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOSCELYN CHESHIRE *** + +***** This file should be named 35519-8.txt or 35519-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/1/35519/ + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Joscelyn Cheshire + A Story of Revolutionary Days in the Carolinas + +Author: Sara Beaumont Kennedy + +Release Date: March 8, 2011 [EBook #35519] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOSCELYN CHESHIRE *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 318px;"> +<img src="images/icover.jpg" width="318" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<h1>JOSCELYN CHESHIRE</h1> + +<h2>A STORY OF REVOLUTIONARY DAYS<br /> +IN THE CAROLINAS</h2> + +<h3>BY</h3> +<h2>SARA BEAUMONT KENNEDY</h2> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 82px;"> +<img src="images/i001.jpg" width="82" height="100" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3>NEW YORK</h3> +<h2>DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO.</h2> +<h3>1901</h3> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1901</span>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">By</span> DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<p><a name="Frontispiece" id="Frontispiece"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 313px;"> +<img src="images/i003.jpg" width="313" height="500" alt="“SHE SWEPT HIM A COURTESY FULL OF OPEN DEFIANCE AND +RIDICULE.”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“SHE SWEPT HIM A COURTESY FULL OF OPEN DEFIANCE AND +RIDICULE.”</span> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<p class="center">To my Husband<br /> +WALKER KENNEDY<br /> +<span class="smcap">This Book Is Dedicated</span></p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS"> + +<tr> +<td align="right"><span style="margin-right: 0.75em;"><small>CHAPTER</small></span></td> +<td align="center"> </td> +<td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">I.</td> +<td align="left">Cupid and Mars</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">II.</td> +<td align="left">The March of the Continentals</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_10">10</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">III.</td> +<td align="left">Onward to Valley Forge</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">IV.</td> +<td align="left">The Company on the Veranda</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">V.</td> +<td align="left">Winding the Skein</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VI.</td> +<td align="left">The Fête at Philadelphia</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VII.</td> +<td align="left">A Dare-devil Deed</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VIII.</td> +<td align="left">A Maid’s Dream and the Devil’s Wooing</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">IX.</td> +<td align="left">On Monmouth Plain</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">X.</td> +<td align="left">In Clinton’s Tents</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XI.</td> +<td align="left">From Camp to Prison</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XII.</td> +<td align="left">A Message out of the North</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XIII.</td> +<td align="left">Dreams</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XIV.</td> +<td align="left">News of Love and War</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XV.</td> +<td align="left">An Awakening and a Mutiny</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XVI.</td> +<td align="left">Into the Jaws of Death</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XVII.</td> +<td align="left">Out of the Shadow and into the Sun</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XVIII.</td> +<td align="left">“Kiss me quick, and let me go”</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XIX.</td> +<td align="left">The Wearing of a Red Rose</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XX.</td> +<td align="left">Joscelyn’s Peril</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXI.</td> +<td align="left">Trapped</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_217">217</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXII.</td> +<td align="left">“Search my Lady’s Wardrobe”</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXIII.</td> +<td align="left">In Tarleton’s Toils</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_242">242</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXIV.</td> +<td align="left">Thwarted</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_263">263</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXV.</td> +<td align="left">Good-by, Sweetheart</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_278">278</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXVI.</td> +<td align="left">By the Beleaguered City</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_293">293</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXVII.</td> +<td align="left">Homecomings</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_305">305</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXVIII.</td> +<td align="left">An Unanswered Question</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_320">320</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXIX.</td> +<td align="left">The End of the Thread</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_331">331</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS"> + +<tr> +<td align="center"> </td> +<td align="right"><small>FACING PAGE</small></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left" class="hangingindent">“She swept him a courtesy +full of open defiance and ridicule.”</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Frontispiece">Frontispiece</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left" class="hangingindent">“Thus they passed, with small parley, the +picket-posts.”</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo1">48</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left" class="hangingindent">“Richard was dragged along with the British +until their position was regained.”</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo2">81</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left" class="hangingindent">“... The Prisoners lined up and answered +to their names.”</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo3">149</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left" class="hangingindent">“For a long minute he stood there, trembling, +horror-stricken.”</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo4">164</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left" class="hangingindent">“‘My God, Joscelyn, you will not give me +up like that!’”</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo5">226</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left" class="hangingindent">“‘I have seen no human being save our party +of three.’”</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo6">262</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left" class="hangingindent">“‘My Heart’s prisoner for time and eternity.’”</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo7">331</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h1><a name="JOSCELYN_CHESHIRE" id="JOSCELYN_CHESHIRE"></a>JOSCELYN CHESHIRE.</h1> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>CUPID AND MARS.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox bbox"><p>“Thy head is as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat.”</p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>.</p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">H</span>e threw the door wide open and, with one foot advanced and his weight +on the other hip, stood at pose with uplifted arm and sword; as gallant +a figure as ever melted a maiden’s heart or stormed a foeman’s citadel. +There was great suggestion of power in the straight limbs, a marvellous +promise of strength in the upward sweep of the arm, which, for a moment, +held the inmates of the room in silence of admiration. Then an avalanche +of exclamations broke loose.</p> + +<p>“Richard, Richard!”</p> + +<p>“Master Clevering!”</p> + +<p>“A health to the young Continental!”</p> + +<p>“Oh, the new uniform, how bravely it doth become him!”</p> + +<p>“The buff and blue forever!”</p> + +<p>“What an air the coat gives him.”</p> + +<p>“And the breeches have never a wrinkle in them. I have ever said, my +son, that you were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>not over fair of feature, but that the Lord made it +up to you in the shape o’ your legs.” The last speaker was his mother, +who, passing behind him, ran her fingers caressingly along the seams of +his military outfit.</p> + +<p>The young man lowered his sword and answered with a boyish laugh: “And +truly did the Lord owe me a debt in that He gave me not your beauty, +mother.”</p> + +<p>“He balanced His account,” was the complacent answer, “for you are a fit +figure to please even a king.”</p> + +<p>“Nay, I care not to please the king—but the assembled queens!” He +doffed his hat, and bowed with courtly grace to the group of young women +in the centre of the room.</p> + +<p>Full of laughter and chaffing they crowded about him—his sister Betty, +her friend Patience Ruffin, Mistress Dorothy Graham, who had come in to +learn a new knitting stitch of Betty, and pretty Janet Cameron, who had +followed Dorothy to hear the gossip which must necessarily flow freely +where so many women were assembled. Immediately they surrounded the +young soldier, and there was much laughter and talking as they relieved +him of his sword and gun.</p> + +<p>“Only a private in the ranks, and yet here am I attended like a +commander-in-chief,” he said, laughing. “Methinks no hero of olden +romance had ever such charming squirage. Are you going to give me your +gloves and fasten your colours on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>my helmet, that I may go forth to +battle as did the knights of yore?”</p> + +<p>“Yes; kill me a Redcoat for this,” and Janet tossed him her glove, while +Dorothy tied a strand of the bright wool from her knitting ball upon his +sleeve. “An you win not a battle for each of us, you are no knight of +ours.”</p> + +<p>But the fifth girl of the group, after one glance at him upon his +entrance, had turned abruptly to the window and stood gazing into the +street, tapping the air to “King George, Our Royal Ruler” upon the +panes. No part of her face was visible, but her attitude was spirited, +and the poise of her head bespoke defiance. Richard Clevering’s eyes +travelled every few minutes to that straight, lithe figure, and anon he +called out banteringly:—</p> + +<p>“Hey, you, there at the window, are King George and his army passing by +that you have no eyes for other folk?”</p> + +<p>“I would that they were,” was the short answer, and the fingers went on +with their strumming.</p> + +<p>“Come, Joscelyn, leave off sulking and see how brave Richard’s uniform +doth make him,” said Betty, coaxingly, eager that her brother’s unspoken +wish should be gratified.</p> + +<p>“And truly doth he need somewhat to make him brave, seeing he is in arms +against his king,” Joscelyn retorted, but turned not her head.</p> + +<p>“In arms against the king? Aye, truly am I; and yours be not the only +Royalist back I shall <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>see ’twixt this and the end of the campaign, +Mistress Joscelyn Cheshire.”</p> + +<p>“Then, forsooth, will they be in luck—not having you to look at.”</p> + +<p>But the others had caught his meaning, and her retort was half lost in +the shout of laughter that greeted him.</p> + +<p>“Aye, I warrant me when the fighting comes you will see the backs of so +many Redcoats that you can e’en cut their pattern in the dark,” declared +Dorothy.</p> + +<p>“Then will his head be twisted forever awry with looking so much over +his shoulder behind him.”</p> + +<p>“My Lady Royalist’s ears are in the room though her eyes be elsewhere,” +laughed Janet.</p> + +<p>“And neither is her tongue paralyzed. Turn about, Joscelyn, and let us +see you have also other power of motion.”</p> + +<p>“Not quite so much as some folk who turn like a weather-cock in every +gust of a partisan wind.”</p> + +<p>Thus the sparring went on until the visitors took their departure, +followed to the gate by Mistress Clevering and her daughter for that one +last word which women so love. Richard bowed them out and closed the +door upon their backs; then, marching straight to the window, he placed +himself by Joscelyn, who immediately turned her face in the opposite +direction. He spoke to her, but only a shrug of the shoulders answered +him.</p> + +<p>“You <i>shall</i> look at me,” he cried, with sudden <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>determination; and, +seizing her by the shoulders, he twisted her about until she faced him; +but even then he did not accomplish his purpose, for she covered her +face with her hands, declaring vehemently she would rather see him in +his shroud than in the uniform of a traitor.</p> + +<p>“Traitor, forsooth! You know not whereof you speak. In what button or +seam see you aught that is traitorous?” He dragged her hands from her +face, and held them in his strong grip; but still he was foiled, for her +eyes were tightly closed. “An you open not your eyes immediately, I will +kiss them soundly upon either lid.”</p> + +<p>Which threat had the desired effect, for instantly the lashes parted and +a pair of sea-blue eyes looked angrily into his.</p> + +<p>“So—I have brought you to terms. Well, and what think you of my +uniform?”</p> + +<p>“Methinks,” and her voice was not pleasant to hear, “that ’tis most +fitting apparel for one who refuses allegiance to his king and—uses his +greater strength against a woman.”</p> + +<p>He flung her hands away with what, for him, was near to roughness. “By +the eternal stars, Joscelyn, your tongue has a double edge!”</p> + +<p>“A woman has need of a sharp tongue since Providence gave her but +indifferent fists.”</p> + +<p>“In sooth, it is the truth with you,” he cried, his good-humour restored +as he again caught one of her slender hands and held it up for +inspection. “Nature wasted not much material here; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>methinks it would +scarce fill a fly with apprehension.”</p> + +<p>But she wrung it out of his grasp, and, with an exclamation of +annoyance, turned once more to the window. His expression changed, and +he stood some moments regarding her in silence. At last he said:—</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn, ’tis now more than two years since you came to live +neighbours with us, and for the last half of that time you and I have +done little else than quarrel. But on my part this disagreement has not +gone below the surface; rather has it been a covering for a tenderer +feeling. I have heard it said that a woman knows instinctively when a +man loves her. Have you spelled out my heart under this show of +dispute?”</p> + +<p>She shrugged her shoulders mockingly. “I am but an indifferent speller, +Master Clevering.”</p> + +<p>“Right well do I know that, having seen some of your letters to Betty,” +he answered with ready acquiescence. Whereat she flashed upon him a +glance of indignant protest; but he went on calmly, as though he noted +not the look: “But you are a fair reader, and mayhap I used a wrong +term. Have you not read my heart all these months?”</p> + +<p>“It is not given even unto the wise to read so absolute a blank.”</p> + +<p>It was his time to wince, but the minutes were flying, the women might +return from the gate at any moment, and this would be his last chance +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>for a quiet word with her. “Let us have done with this child’s play, +Joscelyn. To-morrow I march with my company; ’twill be months, perhaps +years, before we meet again. I love you! Will you not give me some +gentle word, some sweet promise, to fill with hope the time that is to +come?”</p> + +<p>“What manner of promise can you wish?” she asked, her back still toward +him.</p> + +<p>“A promise which shall mean our betrothal.”</p> + +<p>“Betrothal?—and we always quarrelling?”</p> + +<p>“Quarrels cease where love doth rule,” he answered softly.</p> + +<p>“But I have no love for you.”</p> + +<p>“You might have if you would cease dwelling so much on the king’s +affairs and think somewhat of me. I would give you love unqualified if +so you would but lean ever so little my way.”</p> + +<p>“And think you, Master Clevering, that I would turn traitor for your +love? Nay, sir; I am a loyal subject to King George, and can enter into +no compact with his enemies.”</p> + +<p>“Then will I be forced to conquer you along with the other adherents of +the tyrant, for have you I will,” he cried impetuously. “An you yield +not to persuasion, you shall yield to force. From this day I hold you as +a part of the English enemy who needs must be subdued; and I do hereby +proclaim war against your prejudice for your heart.”</p> + +<p>“And I do accept the challenge, foreseeing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>your failure in both +causes.” She swept him a courtesy full of open defiance and ridicule, +and again turned her back upon him as Betty entered the room.</p> + +<p>But Master Clevering was neither dismayed nor discouraged by the turn +his wooing had taken. He had never thought to win her lightly, and his +combative disposition recognized in the prospect before him the elements +of a struggle, so that he was filled with the keen joy of a warrior at +the onset of the fray. The possibility of final defeat did not occur to +him.</p> + +<p>Bidding Betty an affectionate good-by, Joscelyn quitted the house, +declining his proffered escort, nor did he speak with her again for a +space of many hours; for when the company, bidden that night to a +farewell feast with him, assembled about the board, the chair set for +her was vacant. Betty and Janet glanced meaningly at each other, for +they had seen her at dusk in company with Eustace and Mary Singleton, +and the Singletons were among the most pronounced Tories in the county. +But at the other end of the table Richard only laughed as he thrust his +knife into the fowl before him and felt for the joint.</p> + +<p>“Tell her, Aunt Cheshire, that our loss does not equal hers, since she +gets none of this bird, which is browned to the taste of Epicurus +himself.”</p> + +<p>His tone was careless, and in truth he was not surprised at her +defection, for he, too, had seen the Singletons at her gate; and later +on, as he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>stood at his own door, had seen her, through her lighted +parlour window opposite, take off, for the entertainment of her guests, +his own theatrical entrance in his uniform that afternoon. She was an +excellent mimic, and her sense of humour enabled her to give a ludicrous +side to the scene, which drew forth peals of laughter from her auditors. +The vanity, the swagger, the monumental pose, were so exactly reproduced +that Richard felt a quick tingle of irritation flush his veins. And that +picture was still in his mind as he sat at table among his guests.</p> + +<p>It is questionable whether it would have been an added nettlement or a +relief had he known that she had been aware of his presence across the +way, seeing him distinctly against the hall light behind him, and that +the scene enacted was more for him than for her visitors.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>THE MARCH OF THE CONTINENTALS.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox2 bbox"><p>“Thou art gone from my gaze like a beautiful dream.”</p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Linley.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he Cheshires and Cleverings were not akin, although the young people +gave titles of kinship to the older folk. Mistress Cheshire had been +twice married, her first husband being brother to James Clevering. After +her second widowhood she had moved from New Berne to Hillsboro’-town, to +be near her brother-in-law, for neither she nor her last husband had any +nearer male relative this side of the sea. There had been no quarrel +with the Cleverings concerning her second marriage, so that she found in +Hillsboro’ a ready welcome. The inland town promised more peace than the +bustling seaport whence she had moved. There news of king and colony +came in with every vessel that cast anchor at the wharves, and, as a +result, the community was in a constant state of ferment. All this was +very repugnant to Mistress Cheshire, who was a timid woman with no very +decided views upon public questions. Her one ruling desire was for +peace, no matter whence the source; she had lived quite happily under +the king’s sceptre; but if Washington <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>could establish a safe and quiet +government, she would have no quarrel either with him or fate.</p> + +<p>But Joscelyn was different. Her father had been an ardent advocate of +kingly rule, and she had imbibed all of his enthusiasm for England and +English sovereignty. He had died just before the battle of Lexington set +the western continent athrob with a new national life. Consequently, the +removal from New Berne had been much against Joscelyn’s inclination, for +she desired to be in the front and press of the excitement. But seeing +how her mother’s heart was set on it, she finally withdrew her +opposition. Still she carried to her new home the bitter Toryism with +which her father had so deeply ingrained her nature. In another +atmosphere this feeling might have spent itself in idle fancies and vain +regrets; but in daily, almost hourly, contact with the Cleverings, whose +patriotism was ever at high tide, she was kept constantly on the +defensive, and in a spirit of resistance that knew no compromise. The +elder Cleverings and Betty looked upon her outbreaks good-humouredly, +treating them as the whims of a spoiled child. But not so Richard. His +whole soul was in the revolt of the colonies; every nerve in him was +attuned to war and strife, and he was vehemently intolerant of any +adverse opinion, so that between him and Joscelyn the subject came to be +as flint and steel. He did not scruple to tell her that she was foolish, +obstinate, logically blind, and that her opinions were not of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>the +smallest consequence; and yet the stanch loyalty with which she +defended her cause, and the ready defiance with which she met his every +attack won his admiration. Very speedily he separated her personality +from her views, and loved the one while he despised the other. Nothing +but fear of her ridicule had hitherto held him silent upon the subject +of his love.</p> + +<p>While the merry-making went on at the Cleverings’ that last night of his +stay at home, Joscelyn sat playing cards with the Singletons, whom she +persuaded to remain to tea, making her loneliness her plea.</p> + +<p>“It passes my understanding,” said Eustace, as he slowly shuffled the +cards, “how these insurgents can hope to win. Even their so-called +congress has had to move twice before the advance of his Majesty’s +troops. A nation that has two seats of government in two years seems +rather shifty on its base.”</p> + +<p>“It must have been a brave sight to see General Howe march into +Philadelphia,” said Joscelyn. “Methinks I can almost hear the drums beat +and see the flags flying in the wind. Would I had been there to cry +‘long live the king’ with the faithful of the land.”</p> + +<p>But Mary shuddered. “I am content to be no nearer than I am to the +battle scenes. The mustering of the Continental company to-day has +satisfied my eyes with martial shows.”</p> + +<p>“Call you that a martial show?” her brother <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>laughed derisively. “Why, +that was but a shabby make-believe with only half of the men properly +uniformed and equipped. Martial show, indeed! Rather was it a gathering +of scarecrows. I prophesy that in six months the ‘indomitable army of +the young Republic,’ as the leaders style the undisciplined rabble that +follows them, will be again quietly ploughing their fields or looking +after other private affairs.”</p> + +<p>“And while you are prophesying you are playing your cards most +foolishly, and I am defeating you.”</p> + +<p>“True, you have me fairly with that ace. Let us try it again—‘Deprissa +resurgit,’ as the Continentals say on their worthless paper money.”</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn,” said Mary suddenly, “did I tell you that Aunt Ann said in +her letter that Cousin Ellen wore a yellow silk to the ball given to +welcome General Howe to Philadelphia?”</p> + +<p>“I do believe you left out that important item,” laughed Joscelyn.</p> + +<p>“Why, how came you to be so remiss, I pray you, sister? The flight of +congress from the Quaker city, and its seizure by his Majesty’s troops, +are but insignificant matters compared to the fact that our cousin wore +yellow silk to the general’s ball,” teased her brother. Whereupon Mary +went pouting across the room and sat at the window, calling out to the +players at the table the names of those who went in and out of the house +of festivity opposite.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p><p>“Yonder are Mistress Strudwick and Doris Henderson—dear me! I wonder +what it feels like to be so stout as Mistress Strudwick? Billy Bryce and +his mother are just behind them. I see Janet and Betty through the +window. Betty has on that pink brocade with the white lace.”</p> + +<p>“Then I warrant some of those recruits will go to the war already +wounded, for in that gown Mistress Betty is sweet enough to break any +man’s heart.”</p> + +<p>“Eustace, I do believe you are halfway in love with Betty.”</p> + +<p>“Why put it only halfway, my dear? The whole is ever better than a +part.”</p> + +<p>“What think you, Joscelyn, is he in earnest? And how does Betty like +him?”</p> + +<p>But Joscelyn laughingly quoted the biblical text about being “unevenly +yoked together with unbelievers,” reminding Mary that Betty was a Whig, +and Eustace a Loyalist, and this was a bar that even Cupid must not pull +down. Whereupon Eustace laughed aloud; and Mary was satisfied.</p> + +<p>Early the next morning Betty ran over to make her protest against +Joscelyn’s absence of the night before. “Richard seemed not to care, but +mother and I were much chagrined that you did not come.”</p> + +<p>“I certainly meant no offence to you and Aunt Clevering,” answered +Joscelyn, “but Richard and I have a way of forgetting our company +manners which is most unpleasant to spectators.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p><p>“Yes; mother read Richard a most proper lecture this morning about the +way he quarrels with you, and he is coming over later to make his peace; +he says he thinks that perhaps mother is right, and that he will feel +better to carry in his heart no grudge against any one when he goes into +battle. And you must be very kind to him, Joscelyn, for it is a great +concession on his part to apologize thus. Supposing if—if anything +happened to him, and you had sent him away in anger!”</p> + +<p>Joscelyn drew the young girl to her. “So you have appointed yourself +keeper-in-chief of my conscience? Well, well; I will hold a most strict +watch over my tongue during the next few hours, so that it may give you +no offence. Still, I am not easily conscience-stricken, and neither, I +think, is Master Clevering.”</p> + +<p>“The Singletons passed the evening with you, did they not?” asked Betty, +who had glanced across at her friend’s window the night before, and had +seen them playing cards together.</p> + +<p>“Yes; and Eustace said some very pretty things about you and your pink +frock. What a pity you are of different political beliefs, for—Why, +Betty, what a beautiful colour has come into your cheeks.”</p> + +<p>“Stuff, Joscelyn! But—what said Master Singleton?” And when the speech +was repeated, the girl’s sweet face was redder than ever.</p> + +<p>For a few moments Joscelyn looked at her in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>consternation. Betty cared +for Eustace! It seemed the very acme of irony. Then tenderly she stroked +the brown hair, wondering silently at the game of cross-purposes love is +always playing. Uncle and Aunt Clevering, with their violent views, +would follow Betty to her grave rather than to her bridal with Eustace, +for, besides the party differences, the older folk of the two families +had long been separated by a bitter quarrel over a title-deed. +Joscelyn’s own friendship for Mary and Eustace had been the cause of +some sharp words between her and her uncle; a thousand times more would +he resent Betty’s defection. “But they shall not break her heart!” she +said to herself, with a sudden tightening of her arms about the clinging +girl.</p> + +<p>An hour later Richard knocked at the door and was admitted by Mistress +Cheshire, for Joscelyn had gone to her own room at the sound of his step +outside.</p> + +<p>“No, I will not come down. I have promised Betty not to quarrel with +him, and the only way to keep my word is not to see him,” she said to +her mother over the banister. “Tell him I hope he will soon come back +whole of body, but as gloriously defeated as all rebels deserve to be.”</p> + +<p>In vain her mother urged, and in vain Richard called from the foot of +the stair; she neither answered nor appeared in sight.</p> + +<p>“Tell her, Aunt Cheshire, that I never thought to find her hiding in her +covert; a soldier who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>believes in his cause hesitates not to meet his +adversary in open field; it is the doubtful in courage or confidence who +run to cover.” And he went down the step with his head up angrily and +his sword clanging behind him.</p> + +<p>In the upper hall Joscelyn held her hands tightly over her mouth to +force back the stinging retort. Then, with a derisive smile, she went +downstairs and sat in the hall window, in plain view of the street and +the house across the way.</p> + +<p>That afternoon his company marched afield. The town was full of noise +and excitement, and the mingled sound of sobbing and of forced laughter, +as the line was formed in the market-place and moved with martial step +down the long, unpaved street, the rolling drums and clear-toned bugles +stirring the blood to a frenzy of enthusiasm. The sidewalks were lined +with spectators, the patriots shouting, the luke-warm looking on +silently. Every house along the route through the town was hung with +wind-swung wreaths of evergreen or streamers of the bonny buff and +blue—every one until they reached the Cheshire dwelling. There the +shutters were close drawn as though some grief brooded within, and upon +the outside of the closed door hung a picture of King George framed in +countless loops of scarlet ribbon that flamed out like a sun-blown poppy +by contrast with the soberer tints of the Continentals. Here was a +challenge that none might misunderstand. The sight was as the red rag in +the toreador’s hand <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>to the bull in the arena; and, like an infuriated +animal, the crowd surged and swayed and rent the air with an angry roar. +The marching line came suddenly to a full stop without a word of +command, and the roar was interspersed with hisses. Then there was a +rush forward, and twenty hands tore at the pictured face and flaunting +ribbons, and brought them out to be trampled under foot in the dust of +the road, while a voice cried out of the crowd:—</p> + +<p>“Down with the Royalists! Fire!”</p> + +<p>And there was a rattle and a flash of steel down the martial line as +muskets went to shoulders. But Richard Clevering, pale with fear, sprang +to the steps between the deadly muzzles and the door and lifted a hand +to either upright, while his voice rang like a trumpet down the line:—</p> + +<p>“Stay! There are no men here. This is but a girl’s mad prank. Men, men, +turn not your guns against two lonely women; save your weapons for +rightful game! Shoulder arms! Forward! March!”</p> + +<p>There was a moment’s hesitation, a muttering down the ranks; then the +guns were shouldered and the column fell once more into step with the +drums, while the crowd shouted its approval. But above the last echoes +of that shout a woman’s jeering laugh rang out upon the air; and, +lifting eyes, the crowd beheld Joscelyn Cheshire, clad in a scarlet +satin bodice, lean out of her opened casement and knot a bunch of that +same bright-hued <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>ribbon upon the shutter. With the throng in such +volcanic temper it was a perilous thing to do; and yet so insidious was +her daring, so great her beauty, that not so much as a stone was cast at +this new signal of loyalty, and not a voice was lifted in anger.</p> + +<p>And this was the last vision that Richard had of her—the vivid, glowing +picture he carried in his heart through the long campaigns, whether it +was as he rushed through the smoke-swirls of battle or bivouacked under +the cold, white stars.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>ONWARD TO VALLEY FORGE.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox3 bbox"><p>“He is the freeman whom the truth makes free,<br /> +And all are slaves besides.”</p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Cowper.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he colony of North Carolina had long been ready for rebellion against +kingly authority. Governor Tryon had sown the seeds of discontent by his +unpopular measures, and the taxes levied upon the people that he might +build his “palace” at New Berne. This discontent had culminated in the +insurrection of the Regulators and the battle of Alamance, where was +made the first armed stand against England. But Tryon was victorious, +and the captured leaders of the insurrection were hanged on Regulators’ +hill in Hillsboro’-town. But from that field of Alamance, the defeated +people carried to their homes the same persistent, haunting dream of +liberty which was to rise incarnate when the tocsin of the Revolution +blew through the land.</p> + +<p>That tocsin waked many an echo among the hills that surrounded the town +upon the Eno. At the first call to arms, the older men had gone to the +field, some marching away to the north, others serving <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>under the +partisan leaders throughout their own section. Now the younger +ones—those who had been but boys when the cannon at Lexington made the +pulse of the people first to quicken and throb—were going out to bear +their share in the fray.</p> + +<p>For the past year the company of which Richard Clevering was a member +had done service in the militia at home, keeping the Tories in a +semblance of subjection, and now and then going to Sumter’s aid when he +made one of those electrical sallies which were like lightning flashes +amid the general storm. In this hard school Richard had learned his +first lessons in soldiering; but graver and sterner military work was +now ahead, for the company was marching northward to aid in recruiting +Washington’s regular army, reduced and discouraged by the terrible +winter at Valley Forge.</p> + +<p>When they started, the willows that fringed the Eno, that fierce little +river that winds about Hillsboro’, had already lost their winter +grayness, and, with the rising of the sap, had taken on that wonderful +golden brown which is the aureole of the coming springtime. The +bluebirds had not yet come back to the fence corners, but the earth was +soggy with the thaw, and from under the whirls of last year’s dead +leaves, crocuses were holding up green signals to the sun. But as the +troop held their steady way to the north the spring signs disappeared, +and hoar frost and bleak winds told that winter’s reign was not yet +over.</p> + +<p>It was a long tramp up through the Virginia <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>woods and along the salt +marshes of the coast, and down and up the desolate streams hunting a +ford. But youth and enthusiasm lighten many a burden, and to Richard the +greatest hardship was lack of news from Joscelyn. The thought of her +tugged at his heart, and if his step ever lagged in the line, it was +because the memory of her face drew him back with that sickening sense +of longing that youth finds so hard to resist. At every chance he sent +her a missive.</p> + +<p>“Not that she will care, but just to show her <i>I</i> do,” he said, trying +to convince himself there was no bitterness in the thought.</p> + +<p>Peter Ruffin, marching beside him, often looked at the knit brows and +compressed lips and smiled, guessing something of the cause; he said to +himself that it was safer to leave a wife behind than a sweetheart, +since one was sure to find the wife waiting his return, while a +sweetheart might be gone with a fresher fancy. But little Billy Bryce, +who could never have kept up with the line had it not been for Richard’s +aid now and then, could not fathom the meaning of that dark look in his +benefactor’s face, and so was silent and sorry.</p> + +<p>The March winds tore at them, and the storms pelted them as they tramped +the rugged roads or slept in their thin tents, and the bullets that they +had intended for the enemy, often went to provide game for their daily +sustenance. The Tories of the districts through which they passed +sometimes rallied to oppose them, so that they had to fight <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>their way +through ambuscades, or, when the enemy greatly outnumbered them, slip +away under cover of night or by circuitous paths through the forest and +swamps.</p> + +<p>And so, at last, toward the end of March, they reached their goal—the +encampment at Valley Forge, and shuddered at the desolation they +witnessed. As the little band marched down the streets of the military +village, gaunt men who had survived the horrors of the winter came out +to meet them with huzzas, and the drums beat a long welcome. Their +coming was as a thrill that runs through a half-numb body, a sign of +revivification and awakened hope. But under it all was a sense of +unspeakable sadness that filled the hearts of the newcomers with a +strange wistfulness of pity and admiration.</p> + +<p>The succeeding weeks were given up literally to camp work, to ceaseless +mustering and drilling under the vigilant eye of Baron Steuben, until +the newcomers lost the air of recruits and bore themselves with the +semblance of veterans.</p> + +<p>“We had hoped to fight under Morgan,” Richard wrote his mother, “but, +doubtless for excellent reasons, we are to be assigned to General +Wayne’s command, which just now sorely needs strengthening. Save that +Morgan is from our part of the country, the change matters not to me, +since both men are fearless leaders. What I want is a fray, and with +either of these men I am like to get my fill.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p><p>Here there was a long blot on the page, as though the back of his quill +had been drawn along a line. In truth it had, for he had started to send +a message to Joscelyn, and then with a sudden accession of determination +had erased it, lest she come to think he had never anything in mind save +herself. But he fondled the letter as he folded it, knowing that her +fingers would doubtless hold each page and her eyes travel along each +line, for his mother would share her news of him with her neighbours +over the way.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>THE COMPANY ON THE VERANDA.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox4 bbox"><p>“Heaven first taught letters for some wretch’s aid,<br /> +Some banished lover or some captive maid.”</p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Pope.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">F</span>or several weeks after the departure of the soldiers an expectant hush +settled over Hillsboro’-town—the reaction of the mustering and drilling +that had gone before. So few men were left in the town that Janet +Cameron one day dressed herself in the garb of a nun, and, with the +feigned humility of folded hands and downcast eyes, went calling upon +her companions “of the convent town.” A ripple of merriment followed in +her wake, for she made a most quaint figure. But the Reverend Hugh +McAden, meeting her upon the corner, so reprimanded her for her levity +that she ran home in tears and hid her gray frock and hood in the +garret. Joscelyn sobered her own face and made the girl’s peace with the +reverend gentleman with such explanations as at last seemed to him +reasonable. But Janet went on no more masquerading tours.</p> + +<p>With both the work and the gayety of the town interrupted, there was +nothing of moment to engage attention but the news that came once <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>in a +while from the camps and battle-fields. The interest in this was shared +by every one, so that all the tidings, whether by message or letter, +were looked upon as public property. News that came by word of mouth was +cried out from the church steps or the court-house door, for no good +citizen wished to keep his knowledge to himself. Thus it fell out when +it became known that a missive had come from Richard to Joscelyn, that a +score or more of women gathered about her door to learn the contents. +She came out to them upon the veranda, her saucy beauty enhanced by the +scarlet bodice, her eyes full of laughter.</p> + +<p>“Read you Master Clevering’s letter?—As you will, Mistress Strudwick; +you may perchance find more of interest in it than I,” she answered with +that sweet courtesy she showed ever to her elders. And so having +enthroned Mistress Strudwick upon the wicker bench of the porch, while +the others disposed themselves upon the steps and the grass of the +terrace which sloped directly to the street, she unfolded her letter and +cleared her throat pompously as is the manner of public speakers.</p> + +<p>“I pray you have patience with me, good ladies,” she said, “if so I read +but slowly. Master Clevering ever had trouble with his spelling; and as +for the writing, ’tis as though a fly had half drowned itself in the +inkhorn and then crawled upon the page.”</p> + +<p>Then did she proceed to read them the letter from its greeting to its +close, pausing now and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>then to laboriously spell out a word. There were +accounts of the life at Valley Forge, of the drilling and the picket +duty and the ceaseless watching of the enemy. Then there was an exultant +description of the victory at far-off Stillwater, as it was given to him +by a fellow-soldier who had been a participant.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Said I not the Continentals would win? Would I had been there to +see! Five times was one cannon captured and recaptured. How +glorious the fighting was; and think of the surrender! Well, well, +it consoles me somewhat to think of that coming last surrender of +that archest of all the Royalists. I shall bear a part in that, for +it is to me the capitulation will be made—”</p></div> + +<p>“Why, dear me, is Master Clevering to be made commander-in-chief of the +American forces, that his Majesty’s troops should yield arms to him?” +Joscelyn broke off to ask with assumed innocence. “I heard naught of his +rapid promotion.”</p> + +<p>“Come, come, Joscelyn, leave off sneering at Richard and read us the +rest.”</p> + +<p>She laughed as she turned the page.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Say to Mistress Strudwick that the fame of her gallant brother, +Major William Shepperd, hath reached even this remote quarter, and +his old friends glory in his prowess. Little Jimmy Nash has lost +his wits and wants another pair—</p></div> + +<p>(“A pair of wits! What can that mean? Oh, I ask your pardon, Mistress +Nash; it is ‘mits,’ <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>not ‘wits.’ Master Clevering hath so queer a +handwriting.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“—and wants another pair; let his mother know, that she may knit +them and send them by the first chance.”</p></div> + +<p>There were other messages and news items which the girl read, and then +came the signature.</p> + +<p>“There follows here a postscript which perchance some of you may help me +to unravel,” she added; and then, with the air of a town-crier +announcing his errand, she proceeded:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“To the girl of my heart say this, that I forget not I am fighting +for her, and that I look upon every Redcoat my gun can bring down +as one more obstacle removed from betwixt us. I think of her +always.”</p></div> + +<p>She paused and puckered her brow in a perplexed frown. “Now who, I pray +you, is the girl of his heart? Cannot some of you help me to guess?”</p> + +<p>“Methinks ’twould be an easy task for you,” laughed Mistress Strudwick.</p> + +<p>“<i>Me?</i>” repeated Joscelyn, still with that air of perplexed innocence. +“Nay, he was ever so full of jokes and quarrels that it never came to me +he had a heart.”</p> + +<p>“Mayhap it is Dorothy Graham he means,” said a voice in the crowd.</p> + +<p>“More like ’tis Patience Ruffin.”</p> + +<p>“Or little Janet Cameron—he set much store by her.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p><p>“Nay,” said a teasing voice, “Janet is going to be a nun; such messages +to her would not be proper.” Whereat there was a general laugh.</p> + +<p>“Whoever she is, ’tis a pity she should miss her love message through +her lover’s obscurity and our ignorance,” said Joscelyn. “What think +you, Mistress Strudwick, were it not a good plan to post this page upon +the banister here that all who pass may read? In this wise we may find +the maid.”</p> + +<p>With a pin from her bodice, and using her high-heeled slipper—which she +drew off for the purpose—as a hammer, she tacked the paper to the +banister. But it had not fluttered twice in the wind ere Betty had +snatched it down.</p> + +<p>“Shame on you, Joscelyn, for so exposing my brother’s letter!”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I meant not to anger you, Betty,” returned the girl, sweetly, as +she took the letter again and thrust it into her bodice. “Since you like +not this plan, we will have the town-crier search out the mysterious +damsel and bring her here to read for herself. Let us see how the cry +would run: ‘Wanted, wanted, the girl of Richard Clevering’s heart to +read his greeting on Mistress Cheshire’s porch!’”</p> + +<p>She stooped to buckle her shoe, her foot on the round of Mistress +Strudwick’s chair, and so they saw not the laughter in her eyes. She +knew well that Betty would not fail to write Richard of the scene, and +she already fancied his anger; she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>could have laughed aloud. “Methinks +I have paid you back a score, Master Impertinence,” she said to herself, +and then fell to talking to Dorothy Graham until the company dispersed. +That night Betty, running in on a message from her mother, found +Joscelyn using the fragments of the ill-fated letter to curl the long +hair of Gyp, the house-dog, and she went home to add an indignant +postscript to the missive to her brother, over which she had spent the +afternoon. But even as she wrote she knew he would not heed her advice; +and sure enough, in course of time another letter came to the house on +the terrace:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The girl of my heart is that teasing Tory, Joscelyn Cheshire, who +conceals her tender nature under such show of scorning. One day her +love shall strike its scarlet colours to the blue and buff of mine; +and her lips, instead of mocking, will be given over to smiles and +kisses, for which purpose nature made them so beautiful.</p> + +<p>“Post this on your veranda for the town to read, an you will, +sweetheart. For my part, I care not if the whole world knows that I +love you.”</p></div> + +<p>But Joscelyn did no such thing. Instead, she thrust the letter out of +sight, and refused to read it even to Betty, who had only half forgiven +her for her former offence against her brother.</p> + +<p>As the days passed, however, Betty was full of concern for the +privations Richard endured, and out of sheer force of habit she carried +her plaint to Joscelyn.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p><p>“Richard drills six hours a day, rain or shine,” she said, with an +expostulatory accent on the numeral.</p> + +<p>“Dear me, is he that hard of learning? Methinks even <i>I</i> could master +the art of shouldering a gun and turning out my toes in less time than +that. It seems not so difficult a matter.”</p> + +<p>“And even after all this,” Betty went on, taking no heed of the other’s +laugh, “he may not rest at night, but must needs do picket duty or go on +reconnoitring expeditions. And he hath not tasted meat in two weeks, not +since he hath been in camp.”</p> + +<p>“What a shame! A soldier such as Master Clevering should sit among the +fleshpots and sleep all night in a feather bed.”</p> + +<p>“I knew you would laugh,” Betty said with sudden heat. “You treat +Richard as though he counted for naught; but the truth is, Joscelyn, you +are not half good enough for him.”</p> + +<p>And Betty flung out of the house with her chin in the air, while +Joscelyn kissed her hand to her with playful courtesy, but with a +genuine admiration for her spirit.</p> + +<p>But she softened not her heart toward Richard. Because of his impatience +with her opinions, and the personal nature of their disputes and +oppositions, he had come to typify to her the very core and heart of the +insurrection. She knew this was foolish, that he was in truth but an +insignificant part of the general turmoil; and yet he was the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>prominent +figure that always came before her when the talk turned on the +Revolution, no matter in what company she was. His masterful ways of +wooing and cool assumption of her preference also grated harshly upon +her, and even in his absence her heart was often hot against him. She +listened indifferently to his mother’s and Betty’s praise of him.</p> + +<p>Her position in the community was rather a peculiar one; for while many +of her companions disliked her tenets, they loved her for her merry ways +and grace of manner, and so they refused to listen to some of the more +rabid members who counselled ostracism. Her mother, too, was a strong +bond between her and the public; for when the patriotic women of the +town met together to sew and knit for the absent soldiers, Mistress +Cheshire often went with them, and no needle was swifter than hers. It +was her neighbours she was helping; the soldiers were a secondary +consideration. She was not going to quarrel with Ann Clevering and +Martha Strudwick because their husbands had fallen out with the king; +that was his Majesty’s affair, not hers, and she did not believe in +meddling in other people’s quarrels. But Joscelyn shut herself in her +room on these days and read her English history; or else, being deft +with her pencil, made numerous copies of the historical pictures of King +George and his ministers, which were pinned up on the railing of her +balcony as a new testimonial of her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>loyalty. But no sooner was her back +turned than some passer-by tore them away, sometimes leaving instead a +written threat of retaliation that made her mother’s heart cold with a +nameless dread.</p> + +<p>It was in the end of March, some six weeks after the departure of the +troops, that sad news came from the south. Where the Pedee widened +toward its mouth a blow had been struck for liberty, and Uncle Clevering +had fallen in a charge with Sumter.</p> + +<p>There had been a body of Tories to disperse, a wagon-train to capture, +and despatches to intercept; and Sumter’s troops, knowing this, rode all +the windy night through moonshine and shadow to surprise the enemy in +the daffodil dawn of that March morning. Swift, silent, resistless, like +spectres of the gray forest, they came upon the astonished Redcoats—and +kept their tryst with Victory! The prisoners, the wagon-train, the +despatches were theirs; but one of them had ridden to his rendezvous +with death. The elder Clevering’s horse was led back through all the +long miles to Hillsboro’ with the stirrups crossed over the saddle; and +Ann Clevering sat in her house, bereft. Each day Martha Strudwick and +other friends went to her with words of kindly commiseration; but it was +Mistress Cheshire who did most to comfort the afflicted widow, so that +these two were drawn yet closer together with that bond of sympathy that +comes of a mutual loss. And in Betty’s or Mistress Clevering’s presence +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>Joscelyn never again talked tauntingly of English prowess, since it was +an English bullet that had wrought such sorrow to her friends. But even +this death, shocking as it was to her, in no way shook her allegiance to +the cause she held to be right.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>WINDING THE SKEIN.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox3 bbox"><p>“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”</p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Browning</span>.</p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span>t was April, and the days came with a sheen of blue sky between rifts +of rain.</p> + +<p>Quick steps sounded at the Cheshire door, and the brass knocker beat +like an anvil through the house, setting the maid’s feet in a run to +answer it. Joscelyn came down from her room with wide eyes of curiosity +to find Eustace Singleton in the parlour, a great nosegay of roses in +his hand.</p> + +<p>“From the knocking you kept up, I thought the whole Continental army +must be at my door! You have brought me the first roses of the year,” +she exclaimed; “how kind!” and she stretched out her hand for the +flowers.</p> + +<p>“No—they are not for you—not exactly,” he stammered, holding them out +of her reach.</p> + +<p>“Mother will appreciate them, and I shall enjoy them quite the same.”</p> + +<p>“No, she will not, for I had her not in mind when I plucked them.”</p> + +<p>“Oh!”</p> + +<p>“I was thinking of—of—’n faith, Joscelyn, I was thinking of Mistress +Betty Clevering.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p><p>“Of Betty Clevering! Red roses for Betty Clevering!”</p> + +<p>“They are not all red. See this one; it is near as buff as her own party +colour.”</p> + +<p>The girl nodded, smiling at his eagerness. He walked the length of the +room, then stopped before her abruptly.</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn, I leave for the front to-night.”</p> + +<p>“I did not know—”</p> + +<p>“Yes; I have but waited orders from Lord Cornwallis. This morning a +messenger brought them, and I am to report at once. His lordship has +been most kind because of my father’s friendship when they were boys, +and I am appointed aide upon his staff.”</p> + +<p>She held out her hand impulsively. “’Tis what we hoped for you.”</p> + +<p>“But,” he went on hurriedly, “I cannot go without first speaking with +Mistress Betty. Methinks I cannot fight against her people without first +asking her pardon. Oh, of course, that sounds foolish; but will you help +me, Joscelyn? It would be useless for me to go to her house; the door +would be shut in my face.”</p> + +<p>“And you want me—”</p> + +<p>“I want you to ask her here now, and then go away upstairs like the dear +girl you are, and give me a chance.”</p> + +<p>“Aunt Clevering would never forgive me.”</p> + +<p>“She need not know; think up some excuse for sending for Betty.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p><p>“And Betty herself might be angry.”</p> + +<p>“Not with you. She may turn me away. I have small hope, for she has +always been so shy, and public questions and private quarrels have kept +our families so far apart. You know how seldom we meet; but speak with +her I must, for who knows whether I shall ever come back? My departure +to-night must, of course, be in secret, for were my intentions known, I +should be apprehended and held, mayhap hanged for treason. This is my +one chance to see Betty; you are going to send for her, Joscelyn?”</p> + +<p>She hesitated: she hated deception, and she loved her Aunt Clevering. +Then there came to her the memory of Betty’s face when she had teased +her about Eustace, and her own resolution to be the girl’s friend where +so much heartache and opposition awaited her. This was her opportunity; +if she refused it, she would be abetting the general harshness the girl +was likely to encounter. She left the room without a word, and presently +Eustace saw through the window her little maid dart across the street +and into the opposite gate.</p> + +<p>“Thank you,” he said jubilantly, taking her hand when she reëntered the +room.</p> + +<p>“Wait and see if she comes. She is here but seldom these days; partly +because she is still angry with me about Richard, and partly because of +the sorrow that came to her a month ago. She may not accept my +invitation.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p><p>But even as she spoke, a clear voice cried in the hall: “Joscelyn, +Joscelyn, are you upstairs?”</p> + +<p>“Nay, I am here,” and she met the girl at the door and drew her into the +parlour.</p> + +<p>Eustace came forward smiling. “Now, Mistress Betty, I call this a lucky +chance to have dropped in here when you were coming to sit with +Joscelyn. Fortune does sometimes favour even so humble a subject as I. +Let me move this chair for you.”</p> + +<p>Betty’s cheeks had reddened faintly, and she glanced quickly from him to +Joscelyn, but found in neither face any confirmation of a suspicion that +stirred in her mind. Joscelyn was turning over a great pile of coloured +worsteds.</p> + +<p>“You promised to help me sort the colours for my new cross-stitch—you +have such a fine eye for contrasts. But since Eustace is here, methinks +we had best put it off; men are so impatient over such matters,” she +said.</p> + +<p>“Nay, nay,” he protested; “you slander me along with the rest of my +fellow-men. Mistress Betty here shall prove it, for I will hold those +tangled skeins for her, and she will find that I am patience itself.”</p> + +<p>“Very well, we will put you to the test. What think you, Betty, will +this green do for the flower stems?—You like that shade better?—Hold +out your hands, Eustace. Now, Betty, wind that while I find a blue for +the flowers.”</p> + +<p>Never was anything brought about more naturally <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>and deftly. Almost +before she was aware, Betty found herself seated in front of Eustace, +who was making great show of resignation.</p> + +<p>“How does a man sometimes fall from the high estate of his manhood and +dignity and become no better than a wooden frame whereon to hang a +length of yarn,” he said, laughing; then coloured with pleasure as Betty +bent toward the table and put her face close to the roses lying there.</p> + +<p>“Ah, how sweet! I have only a few buds, as yet. Master Singleton brought +them to you, Joscelyn?”</p> + +<p>“On the contrary, he said expressly they were not for me. There is no +blue in this lot of wools, I must have left it upstairs. ’Tis a shame I +have to mount those steps again. I hope you will have that skein wound +by the time I find the blue one.” At the door she paused and looked back +archly at Eustace; then, blowing a kiss to Betty’s unconscious back, she +went away, shutting the door softly behind her.</p> + +<p>“God bless you, Betty dear; I hope I am acting for your happiness,” she +said to herself on the stairs.</p> + +<p>Betty added to her soft ball in unruffled silence for a minute. Then, +glancing up, she met Eustace’s gaze, and her hand faltered in its +winding.</p> + +<p>“Do you know for whom I brought the roses?” he asked, bending toward +her.</p> + +<p>“Stay, Master Singleton, you are dropping the skein—and you promised to +be so patient.”</p> + +<p>“True, true; I have it all in a mess. Wind <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>your ball up closer that we +may pass it through this loop.”</p> + +<p>And so they set themselves, with here a turn and there a backward twist, +to that old task of unravelling the snarled skein. Now and then their +fingers touched, and both hands trembled and both faces reddened; +Eustace’s from the exquisite pleasure of the contact, for never before +had they been so alone, so near together, and out of pure joy he would +have prolonged the happiness. But the shadows were already lengthening +backward to the east, and with nightfall he must be away. And so when +Betty’s little hand was again near to his he seized it in both of his.</p> + +<p>“Betty—sweetheart—I love you!”</p> + +<p>The thread was snapped apart, and the ball fell to the floor, but he +held her hands fast.</p> + +<p>“Nay, you must listen to me, for this night I go away to bear my share +in the war, perchance to give my life for the cause I hold to be right. +But before I go I must tell you what is in my heart—tell you that I +love you as a man loves the woman to whom he gives his name, with whom +he leaves his honour. And not only must I tell you that, but I must hear +you say that, believing as I do, you do not blame me for going to the +war. You do not blame me, do you?”</p> + +<p>Her hands lay still in his, but her head was bent so low he could not +see into her eyes.</p> + +<p>“This war means everything to me, for the enemies of the king against +whom I shall have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>to fight are my neighbours and acquaintances, and, +worse still, the near and dear relatives of my love. Under such +circumstances you do not think I would fight save from principle?”</p> + +<p>“No.”</p> + +<p>“And you do not condemn the step I am taking, even though it sets me +against your dear ones? I cannot see things as they do.”</p> + +<p>She lifted her head and looked at him squarely for a moment. “Every man +should follow the dictates of his conscience.”</p> + +<p>“I knew your heart would recognize the justice of my case. And when it +is all over, and I come back, you will not let this stand between +us—you will be my wife?”</p> + +<p>But she drew her hand away, shaking her head with downcast eyes, and his +pleading was futile. “To promise you would be to go against my mother, +and it were undutiful in me to add to her present distress; now that my +father is dead and my brother gone to the war, my mother has only me to +comfort her.”</p> + +<p>“Then at least let me carry away the glad assurance that you care for +me; that will suffice, for, if you love me, you will wait for me.”</p> + +<p>“You—you will find me waiting,” she whispered; and then her lips +trembled under the kiss that he put upon them.</p> + +<p>But there was a sound at the door, a warning rattle of the knob, and out +of consideration for her he let her go.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p><p>“Aunt Clevering is calling you, Betty,” Joscelyn said, but she did not +enter. “She’ll be there directly, Aunt Clevering,” she called from the +front door. And presently, when Betty passed her with Eustace’s colours +flaming in her cheeks and his roses on her breast, she knew that Redcoat +and not Continental had won this battle in her parlour.</p> + +<p>“She would not promise me,” Eustace said, wringing her hand; “but I am +so happy, for there are some things that are better than a spoken +promise.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>THE FÊTE AT PHILADELPHIA.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox5 bbox"><p>“Drink to her that each loves best;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And if you nurse a flame</span><br /> +That’s told but to her mutual breast,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We will not ask her name.”</span></p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Campbell.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he sixth day of May dawned clear at Valley Forge. In the crowded huts +and tents was an unusual stir, a brushing and repairing of ragged +uniforms, and a burnishing of bayonets and sword-hilts. Then the bugles +sounded their stirring call, and the morning sun looked down upon the +army drawn up in two lines upon the drill plateau. Richard, gazing down +the line in front of him, and knowing that the one in which he stood was +but its ragged prototype, felt his heart swell with admiration and a +sickening pity; for everywhere were the marks of privation and +starvation. Only the faces, transfigured by the radiance of a new hope, +told of the unconquered wills that lay dormant under the scars of +suffering.</p> + +<p>Thus they heard the news for which they had been mustered into +line—France had acknowledged the independence of the colonies, and +would send them substantial martial aid. Franklin had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>won, and the +<i>fleur-de-lys</i> was to float beside the star-studded banner of the young +republic fighting for her life.</p> + +<p>When the proclamation was read, a salute of thirteen guns boomed out, +each the symbolic voice of a State pledging allegiance to the new +alliance. Down the lines went the rattle of musketry, and there rolled +up a shout that filled the blue hollow of the sky with its hoarse echo.</p> + +<p>“Long live the king of France!”</p> + +<p>“Long live the new Republic!”</p> + +<p>“Hip—hip—huzza!”</p> + +<p>It was as if the prisoned joy of months had broken into song. Scars and +tatters and hunger, pains and aching wounds were forgotten, and only the +radiance of peace and freedom yet to come shone in the dazzled upturned +eyes.</p> + +<p>“Long live the lilies of France!”</p> + +<p>When it was all done Richard sat down to write by the light of a pine +knot one of those letters that Joscelyn hated.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“I am much grieved at the news of you in Betty’s last letter. She +says you daily draw upon yourself the disapproval of the townsfolk +by your public rejoicing over news of any British success. This is +not wise in you, for the people are in no temper to be mocked; and +I feel my hands grow cold at the thought that some danger may come +near you, and I too far away to stand between you and it! Go often +to see my mother, both because she loves you and because the +friendship of so good a patriot will be a safeguard in the +community. Betty hath writ me so queer <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>a page about trying to love +my enemies, and her hope that I will look carefully at every man +toward whom my gun is pointed so that I shoot not a neighbour, that +I am at a loss to understand her meaning—unless, indeed, she hath +been tainted by your Toryism. What think you hath come to the +little minx?”</p></div> + +<p>She would not answer the epistle, of course—she never did; but it was +such a relief to put his feelings into words. That she would be angry at +some of his words he knew, but it made him laugh to think of the +disdainful lips and flashing eyes.</p> + +<p>He must have laughed aloud, for a man stretched upon the ground suddenly +asked him what the joke was.</p> + +<p>“Oh, just a passing thought,” Richard answered. “A man has to think +funny things to keep alive in this state of inactivity into which we are +called.”</p> + +<p>“You would like a little excitement?”</p> + +<p>“Indeed I should. ’Tis now six weeks since I came into camp, and only +that one secret trip with you down the river has broken the monotony of +drilling and mounting guard.”</p> + +<p>The man, a Virginian named Dunn, one of the most daring and capable +scouts of the army, smoked a moment in silence.</p> + +<p>“How would you like to witness the festivities in honour of General Howe +before he leaves Philadelphia?”</p> + +<p>Richard’s eyes lit up. “Take me with you, Dunn!” he cried, with great +eagerness.</p> + +<p>“H-u-s-h!” said Dunn. “Nothing is arranged <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>yet; but there will be much +to learn of the enemy’s intended movements, and when would there fall so +fine a chance as these days of festivity when wine and tongues will both +run free? If I can so fix it, you shall go with me; you suit me better +than Price, for you are quicker to catch a cue. You have got just one +fault for this kind of business—you are always so d—n sure of yourself +and your own powers; a little humility would improve you.”</p> + +<p>Richard laughed and wrung his hand. “You can knock me down for a +conceited coxcomb, only take me with you.”</p> + +<p>For a few days the French alliance was the all-absorbing theme of talk; +and La Fayette’s laughing prophecy that France’s recognition of a +republic would one day come home to her seemed, to these aroused sons of +Liberty, like an augury that the countries of the Old World would one +day follow in the paths their swords were blazing out—the paths that +lead over thrones and crowns to self-government. But Richard soon had +other things whereof to think. Dunn was planning his expedition into the +lines of the enemy; but two weeks went by before he came to Richard’s +tent and beckoned him aside.</p> + +<p>“To-night at eight, by the pine tree down the road. I have spoken to +your captain, so there will be no hubbub about your absence. Bring no +arms but your pistols.”</p> + +<p>Under the young May moon Richard kept his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>tryst with the veteran scout, +as eager as a lover to meet his mistress.</p> + +<p>“Sit down,” said Dunn. “I shall tell you my mission, for I do not work +by halves. Sometimes an assistant has to act on his own responsibility, +and he spoils sport if he does not know the plan. First, we are to find +out when the British are to move, what is their destination, and by what +road they will go. If an attack is to be made before-hand on our camp, +we must bring back the plans. If there is a chance for our men to strike +a blow, we must know it.”</p> + +<p>“And how are we to learn these things?”</p> + +<p>“By keeping our ears and eyes open and our wits sharpened. It will take +cool heads and steady nerves. We are to gain entrance into the city as +ordinary labourers. In this bundle are the necessary clothes. +Circumstances must govern us after we are there. Now to get ready.”</p> + +<p>It took but a few minutes to transform the soldiers into workmen, so far +as dress makes a transformation. Leaving their uniforms in the hollow of +a tree, where Dunn’s man was to search for them, they mounted their +horses and set off by an unused road toward the distant city. The direct +route would have given them about twenty miles of travel, but the +numerous diversions they were obliged to make added a fourth of that +distance to their journey, so there was a gray streak of dawn in the sky +ahead of them when they drew rein at a lonely cabin on the edge of a +wood, beyond <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>which were the cleared fields of a farm that skirted the +city. On the door of this hut Dunn struck three sharp taps, then one, +then two. After the signal was repeated the door was cautiously opened +by a man within, who, upon being assured of the identity of the +newcomers, bade them enter; and Richard found himself in an humble room +whose rafters were hung with drying herbs that gave out a pungent odour.</p> + +<p>In a few words Dunn explained to the man, whom he called George, +something of their purpose.</p> + +<p>“Well, I was expecting you. My vegetable cart starts in two hours; one +of you can go with me, the other must straggle on behind, for two would +be more than is safe with one cart. My daily pass allows me an +assistant.”</p> + +<p><a name="illo1" id="illo1"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 315px;"> +<img src="images/i056.jpg" class="ispace" width="315" height="500" alt="“THUS THEY PASSED, WITH SMALL PARLEY, THE PICKET POSTS.”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“THUS THEY PASSED, WITH SMALL PARLEY, THE PICKET POSTS.”</span> +</div> + +<p>When their horses had been hidden in an out-house, Richard and Dunn +threw themselves down and slept heavily until the carter aroused them. +The smell of breakfast, along with his eagerness for the coming +adventure, made Richard quick to answer the summons, and in a short time +the three were on their way. It had been arranged that Richard, who knew +nothing of the city, should go on with the carter, and that Dunn should +take his chances and follow. But in the public road, where other carts +were beginning to appear, they overtook a black-eyed lass carrying a +huge basket of eggs. It took but a few glances, flashed coquettishly +across the road, to bring <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>Richard to her side. There were some gallant speeches, a protest that +ended in a pouting laugh, and then the two went down the road like old +friends, merry with the carelessness of youth, she swinging her hands +idly, he carrying her basket. Thus they passed, with small parley, the +picket posts, for the guards knew the girl who came and went daily with +her market wares.</p> + +<p>Once they were in the city, Richard bade adieu to his companion, and, +after some little search, joined Dunn behind the market-house, the +latter having slipped in by an obscure alley. They soon knew from the +talk on the streets and the general air of bustle that the fête they had +come to witness was to begin on the water, so they repaired to the pier +above the city and waited for a chance to slip into the crowd. The +opportunity came through a boatman, who wanted two men to help row his +barge down to the appointed landing. They readily bargained to go, and +took their places in the boat, which was soon filled with a gay crowd of +ladies and their escorts, all in gala humour and attire. Richard, +sitting in front of Dunn, forgot all about his oar as he watched the +flutter of the brilliant throng, the glowing faces, the flashing smiles. +Never before had he seen so many magnificent costumes or such an array +of masculine and feminine beauty. But there was one face that seemed +strangely familiar—a face with dark eyes and tropical colouring of +olive and carmine. Where had he seen it? Nowhere, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>he felt sure, for a +girl like that was not to be forgotten. And yet his eyes went back to +her as to a friend. Who, then, was it she resembled? He was searching +his memory for a cue when suddenly something struck him sharply on the +arm, and Dunn said in a whisper:—</p> + +<p>“Mind your oar and quit gaping that way; the whole company will be +noticing it directly, and coming over to examine you, and that’ll be a +pretty kettle of fish!”</p> + +<p>Richard picked up his oar quickly, ashamed of his defection; but for the +life of him he could not keep his eyes from the dark, vivacious face +across the boat, until her escort, a splendidly dressed officer of +Howe’s staff, laughed and said to her:—</p> + +<p>“I told you all hearts would be at your feet this day, and see, even the +boatman over there is worshipping from afar.”</p> + +<p>The half whisper reached Richard, and as the girl turned toward him +their eyes met. She laughed, and then threw up her head with a +disdainful toss, turning back to her companion. But the gesture had +cleared the doubt in Richard’s mind. It was Mary Singleton over again, +and the vivid likeness was to her. This must be her Philadelphia cousin, +of whom he had often heard. She would know much of the plans of the +British, for her father was an intimate of Howe, and she herself said to +be betrothed to his chief of staff. This much Richard remembered from +Joscelyn’s talk, and glad he was to recall the idle chatter <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>which at +the time had bored him, since it kept him from more personal +conversation. It was of Joscelyn and himself that he had always wanted +to talk; but she had declared lightly that neither subject suited her, +for her own charms were too patent to need comment, and his were too few +to bear exposure, and had gone on to tell him of the Singletons, whom +she knew through Mary’s letters. A plan that seemed like the gauzy web +of a fairy tale began to weave itself in Richard’s mind as he bent to +his oar.</p> + +<p>The river was full of boats of every description, from barges like the +one he was in, to giddy cockleshells that seemed a dare to Providence as +they careened and dipped and darted in and out among the larger craft, +like monster dragonflies rather than conveyances for human beings. And +each one, great and small, was packed from prow to stern with a +laughing, singing crowd in festal array. As the gay fleet approached the +appointed landing-place, it passed in line between two men-of-war strung +with flags and sun-kissed garlands; and then, amid the music of +hautboys, the braying of trumpets, and the booming of guns, the company +landed and proceeded to the grounds laid out for the tourney which was +to be the chief event of the day. It was a dazzling picture upon which +the afternoon sun looked down. In the centre stretched the tourney ring, +around which beautiful women, gorgeously gowned, sat on mimic thrones to +watch their gallants—tricked out like <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>knights of old—contend for the +honours. The multi-hued throng of spectators filled out the picture +which had for its foreground the river with its decorated craft, and for +its background the deep green of the forest, with the city’s clustered +roofs to one side. Thousands of flags and garlands and streamers of +ribbon tossed in the wind, while the music, like the invisible incense +of pleasure, drifted like the sunshine everywhere.</p> + +<p>And the man for whom this was all planned sat on his daïs, the +embodiment of soldierly bearing, of courtesy and gratification; for this +splendid demonstration told unequivocally the appreciation in which the +army held him, notwithstanding the implied disapprobation of the home +government in so promptly accepting his resignation, tendered, no doubt, +in an hour of chagrin and hurt pride at the strictures passed upon him +at home.</p> + +<p>As soon as the barge was tied to its pier, Richard and Dunn mingled with +the throng, bent on seeing the sport. Richard longed to become a part of +the merry-making, but knew he must be content to be a spectator. He +looked about carefully for the black-eyed girl, and finally located her +through a remark overheard in the crowd:—</p> + +<p>“Mistress Singleton occupies the place of honour on the right of the +master of ceremonies.”</p> + +<p>And when he had pushed his way farther on, he saw her. So he had been +right; this was Ellen Singleton, the <i>fiancée</i> of Grant, one of the most +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>accomplished officers under Howe. All the afternoon he lingered in her +vicinity, but unable to advance in any way the mad scheme he had in +mind. When darkness fell, the company repaired to the hall where the +tourney victor crowned his queen, and the dancers took their places to +spend the time until supper was announced. More than four hundred guests +sat down to that table, over which twelve hundred waxen candles shed +their radiance. As Richard leaned into one of the low windows, absorbed +in the scene, he noticed that Grant was whispering earnestly to his fair +companion, and that she looked serious, even alarmed. Before he had +finished wondering at the cause, some one touched him on the arm, and he +turned to find Dunn at his elbow.</p> + +<p>“Hist!” said the latter; “something is afoot. Couriers have come, and +General Howe spoke with them apart in the anteroom, and you should have +seen his face light up as he listened. It is, of course, something about +our troops. I heard La Fayette’s name, but can get no particulars. Grant +is leaving the table; keep him in sight if possible while I try the +couriers.”</p> + +<p>Mistress Singleton also had risen, and was leaving the room on Grant’s +arm. Quitting the window hastily, Richard was at the door when they came +out of the hall.</p> + +<p>“I must speak with you,” Grant said earnestly, in a low tone, to the +girl on his arm. The lawn was practically deserted, and the mimic +thrones <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>erected for the tourney stood unoccupied in the blended light +of the moon and flambeaux. “The general’s pavilion yonder is our best +place. There are some ladies and gentlemen on the far side, but at the +corner, there where the shadow falls, no one is sitting. Come.”</p> + +<p>He led her across the open space, and Richard saw them take their places +in the dim light, the girl’s white dress marking the spot even from +where he stood. He followed slowly, not knowing what next to do, for he +was too new in the <i>rôle</i> of scout to willingly play at eavesdropping, +so he stood irresolutely near the pavilion watching the quiet couple at +one side and the bevy of laughing revellers at the other. Evidently +Mistress Singleton was much agitated, for her hand rose in frequent +gesture, and her voice was a trifle shrill. Presently two young men from +the other party came down the pavilion steps, and one of them dropped +his long military cloak in the shadow at the end of the step, saying he +would find it again after the dance. Then they passed on. Behind them +two soldiers came at quickstep, and Richard heard these words:—</p> + +<p>“Grant’s division has the orders. Quick work of the whole crew of +rebels.”</p> + +<p>In the light of the flambeaux at the banquet-hall door Richard saw Dunn, +and hastened to join him. Putting together what they had gathered, they +made out that La Fayette had left Valley Forge with a body of troops, +intending to do whatever <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>mischief he might, but that his movement had +been discovered, and Howe was planning to capture his whole force, and +Grant was to be detailed for the work. But what his course would be, +when he would set out, and what force would be with him were things yet +to learn. However, these were the very things La Fayette would want to +know. Dunn was waiting for Howe to leave the banquet-hall, so Richard +went back to his vigil near the pavilion. As he approached, Grant was +coming down the steps.</p> + +<p>“I shall not be gone twenty minutes. You are quite safe, for Mistress +Hamlin is just behind you, and I’ll send one of the officers to sit with +you. Wait for me, for it may be our last meeting.”</p> + +<p>Evidently the girl consented, for she kept her place while he sprang +down the steps and strode toward the lighted hall.</p> + +<p>The wild plan Richard had cherished all day was to speak with this girl +on equal terms. It might cost him his life, but a very dare-devil spirit +of adventure took possession of him. Now was the hour of which he had +dimly dreamed. He did not stop to think, but stooping into the shadow, +he snatched up the long cloak lying there and wrapped it about him, +turning up the collar jauntily. Then with his heart thumping against his +ribs, but with a smile on his face, he came to the side of the steps +nearest the girl and went boldly up into the pavilion.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>A DARE-DEVIL DEED.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox6 bbox"><p>“Thou fool, to thrust thy head into a noose.”</p> +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Anon</span>.</p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he girl was leaning back with her hand over her eyes, evidently in deep +thought.</p> + +<p>“Ah, Captain,” she said, as Richard paused, mistaking him for one of +Mistress Hamlin’s party from across the pavilion, “you have come to bear +me company in Major Grant’s absence?”</p> + +<p>“With your permission,” answered Richard, gallantly, “and if Providence +is kind to me, General Howe will find much to say to him.”</p> + +<p>“That is not likely, since the plans are all laid.”</p> + +<p>“Yes; they were not long in the forming,” he ventured cautiously. “The +division marches to-night.”</p> + +<p>“So soon? I thought it was at ten in the morning?”</p> + +<p>“No doubt, then, I was misinformed; I was not at the meeting with the +couriers. If Major Grant said ten in the morning, then it must be so,” +he hastily corrected himself; but he had learned one needed item.</p> + +<p>“I hoped it had been hurried up that it might the sooner be over.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p><p>“This French marquis is inclined to give us trouble and himself airs.”</p> + +<p>“Indeed, yes; but General Howe will have his revenge when, after this +fight to-morrow, he sends the young upstart back to England in chains.”</p> + +<p>“That will he. It would be a glorious sight to see our gallant general +capture him with his own hands.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, Major Grant will attend to that,” she replied loftily. “General +Howe will do his share when he receives the prisoners at Chestnut Hill.”</p> + +<p>So Chestnut Hill road was to be their route. Richard mentally recorded +it, while he said with incisive compliment, “Major Grant has the place +of honour.”</p> + +<p>The pleasure in her voice when she answered told that the arrow had hit +its mark. “Major Grant could have circumvented the rebels with half the +five thousand men assigned to him.”</p> + +<p>“He takes so many? ’Tis a large force for so skilful an officer, unless, +indeed, the enemy should be very strong.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I think they reach not half that number.”</p> + +<p>With the hour of starting, the route and the force to be sent, Richard +now knew all he had hoped to learn. Grant might return any moment, so +that his peril was imminent; and yet the audacity of the adventure gave +it such spice that he lingered unwilling, as he was unable to frame an +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>excuse for withdrawing, filling in the pause with comments on the day’s +festivities.</p> + +<p>“Your company does not go with the attacking party?” she said presently, +as though it were something they both knew positively.</p> + +<p>“No,” he replied, catching the cue, but wondering which company was +supposedly his, and for whom had she taken him.</p> + +<p>“Major Grant told me you would go as the general’s escort to receive and +guard the prisoners.”</p> + +<p>“That sounds very tame after his own share in the work. Major Grant was +surely born under a lucky star, to be so favoured as he is by Mars and +the little blind god of love.” There was a tone in his voice that she +could not fail to understand, and she laughed coyly in answer. He ought +to go, he knew; but still he lingered, and presently, urged on by the +spirit of recklessness that possessed him, he said: “You have relatives +in the south, Mistress Singleton?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. How did you happen to know?” She turned toward him so abruptly +that he was for a moment disconcerted.</p> + +<p>“Why, it is not a government secret,” he said, laughing.</p> + +<p>“But you are not from the south; you are English. How should you know, +and why should you think of it just at this time?”</p> + +<p>She had scarcely looked at him before, being too busy watching the door +of the banquet-hall <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>for Grant’s return; but she had now lifted her eyes +directly to his face. Discovery seemed imminent. Cursing himself +inwardly, he hastily put up his hand to smother a pretended cough, +thankful that the light was behind him. But her scrutiny continued.</p> + +<p>“Captain Barry—” she said, with that in her voice that told him she was +not quite satisfied.</p> + +<p>“At your service—would that I could say forever,” he said, putting all +the tenderness possible in his voice, and clicking his heels in a low +salute. Was everything over with him? Fool that he was to have tempted +fate by such an allusion.</p> + +<p>She pushed her chair back as though to rise, but at this moment there +was a stir about the lighted doorway across the sward, and Grant came +out. If he reached the pavilion before Richard found an excuse to retire +his neck would pay the forfeit of his daring. He was thinking hard and +fast. The girl sank back with a sigh of pleasure, her doubt of her +companion momentarily forgotten in the joy of her lover’s return.</p> + +<p>“Your superior officer,” she laughed softly and proudly.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” he replied, with that audacity which, even in danger, could not +be quelled; “my superior in the ways of wooing as well as in the ways of +war, since against him I have no chance to win a smile from your lips. +You will have much to say to him in these last moments—and Mistress +Hamlin is going,” he added with a quick throb of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>gratitude as the party +across the pavilion left their seats.</p> + +<p>“You need not leave us,” she said with half-hearted politeness; but +already Grant was at the foot of the steps, and, with an audacious kiss +upon the hand she held out to him, Richard turned, and, with a beating +heart but no seeming haste, fell into the rear of the company across the +pavilion, descending the steps so close behind them as to seem to an +onlooker to be a member of the party. Every moment was precious to him, +and yet he loitered along the lighted sward as if eternity were his. As +he reached the corner of the building he heard Grant call:—</p> + +<p>“Barry, Barry!”</p> + +<p>But he pretended not to hear, and sauntered on into the shadow. There +his pace quickened. No one stopped him, for his military cloak +completely disguised him, and presently he found himself near the +landing. In an empty boat-house he cast aside his borrowed garment, and +soon found Dunn near the barge at the appointed place of meeting. The +old scout listened to his adventure with amazement not unmixed with +anger.</p> + +<p>“You confounded dare-devil, you might have spoiled the whole plan,” he +cried; yet acknowledging inwardly that he knew no one else who would +have dared to thrust his neck so far into a noose. He himself had not +been idle, and piecing together their bits of information, they made out +that La Fayette had crossed the Schuylkill and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>taken a post of +observation on a range of knobs known as Barren Hill, and that Howe’s +plan was to capture him as a brilliant close to a campaign that had been +so much criticised. It became therefore instantly necessary to warn the +marquis of the plot. The details Richard had gotten from the +unsuspecting girl gave them all they needed to round out their plan; the +one thing now was to escape and carry the information to La Fayette. +This Richard found more difficult than he had imagined from their easy +entrance; for they had no friendly carter and market-maid beside them, +and despite the festivity, the pickets were keeping strict watch at the +outposts. Finally, by creeping on their hands for half a mile behind a +hedge, they managed to evade detection; but the sun was already high +over the eastern horizon before they gained the banks of the Schuylkill. +Keeping close to the stream and avoiding the open road, they finally +came upon a row-boat hidden among the reeds in a cove. This, without +ceremony, they appropriated, and were soon making more rapid progress on +their journey. For a long while nothing but the oars was heard; then +suddenly Richard laughed aloud.</p> + +<p>“Suppose that young gallant had come back for his cloak while I was +talking with the girl?”</p> + +<p>“You’d have had to content yourself with the angels—or the +imps—hereafter,” growled Dunn.</p> + +<p>But Richard laughed again. “Well, I’m glad <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>he stayed away, for ’tis +pleasanter entertaining beautiful girls. It will be great sport to say +in my home letters that I, a private in the Continental army, was one of +Mistress Singleton’s attendants at General Howe’s <i>fête</i>! Mary will get +it all from Joscelyn and write it back to the lady, and she will then +know who the supposed Barry was. Who is Barry, anyhow?”</p> + +<p>“One of the finest of the young officers that wears the red—a soldier +and a lady-killer, so they tell me.” Long afterward Richard recalled the +words.</p> + +<p>Presently Dunn, who had been looking intently ahead, said: “This is the +place; yonder are the two dead oaks by which I always locate Matson’s +ford. We will tie up here and cut across country to the hills, trusting +to luck to find the way to La Fayette. Grant’s guides, knowing their +road, give him the advantage, for I have never been sent to this part of +the country, so am ignorant of my bearings. It must be near to noon, and +the British column has long ago started.”</p> + +<p>“Will they guard this ford, do you think?”</p> + +<p>“Hardly, for it is nearer to the English than to us. La Fayette will +retreat as he came, by the one higher up.”</p> + +<p>“Will he fight first?”</p> + +<p>“He may be forced to; otherwise, no. It would be folly to deliberately +engage the superior force sent against him. If we only knew the direct +path!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p><p>“If we only had some breakfast,” sighed Richard.</p> + +<p>They wanted to ask their way at the scattered cottages and of the men at +work in the fields, but they knew not friends from foes. Once they lay +for an hour under a plum thicket, not venturing to move, while two men, +who had met in the road, stopped their horses for a talk. The afternoon +was beginning to wane when they came to a secluded farmhouse where an +old woman gave them something to eat, and, thinking they were Tories, +warned them that a body of Americans was said to be camped three miles +to the southwest. They thanked her, but once out of her sight they +turned joyfully in the forbidden direction, and in less than an hour +were called to halt by two men with bayonets.</p> + +<p>“Take us to your general, and take us quick,” said Dunn.</p> + +<p>La Fayette recognized Dunn, instantly, and received his news with much +emotion, for he had hoped to strike a telling blow on some of the +outposts, and maybe cut off a foraging party, whose members would be +valuable prisoners for exchange. Now there was nothing but to turn back. +But even as they were making ready for a retreat over the road by which +they had come, his scouts came flying through the lines with the news +that Grant was close upon them in the rear, having made a circuitous +march in order to get between them and their camp <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>at Valley Forge. La +Fayette set his teeth as he said:—</p> + +<p>“Then ’tis fight, though that means death to every brave man here.”</p> + +<p>But Dunn told of Matson’s ford still unguarded, and the commander was +quick to seize the one chance left to save his men, and before midnight +the little band was safely over the river, with their faces toward +Valley Forge. There they were received with cheers by their comrades, +who, having heard some wild rumours brought by two countrymen from +beyond the Schuylkill, had feared the worst for them.</p> + +<p>That night, long after Richard was sleeping the sleep of healthy but +exhausted youth, Dunn sat in the officers’ quarters and told how, with a +military rain-coat over his workman’s blouse, Richard Clevering had +played the gallant to the beauty of Philadelphia and the <i>fiancée</i> of +Howe’s chief of staff.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>A MAID’S DREAM AND THE DEVIL’S WOOING.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox3 bbox"><p>“A pleasing land of drowsyhead it was:<br /> +Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye;<br /> +And of gay castles in the clouds that pass,<br /> +Forever flushing round a summer sky.”</p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Thompson.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span>t was June-time in the beautiful hill country along the Eno. Down the +long road that sloped to the bridge from the west two horses took their +leisurely way, while their riders talked or were silent at will. Below +them, in the curve of the river, lay the town in a green summer dream; +the roadside was lined with nodding blossom heads, and the thickets were +a-rustle now and then with the subdued whir of wings, for the song +season of their feathered tenants was done, and sparrow and wren and +bluebird were busy with family cares.</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn, you are not listening to a word I am saying,” complained Mary +Singleton, petulantly, after repeating a question a second time and +getting no answer.</p> + +<p>“I beg your pardon, Mary; I believe you are right.”</p> + +<p>“Of what were you thinking so intently?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p><p>“I was not thinking. It is too delicious this afternoon to do anything, +even think. I am just resting my mind.”</p> + +<p>“Well, I find you very dull under such a process.”</p> + +<p>“‘A friend should bear a friend’s infirmity,’” quoted Joscelyn.</p> + +<p>“Dulness is not an infirmity; it is a crime.”</p> + +<p>“Then methinks the world must be full of criminals.”</p> + +<p>“And those who are so intentionally and voluntarily should be punished +like other wrong-doers.”</p> + +<p>Joscelyn laughed. “Well, pass sentence upon me, most wise judge, if you +think I was not born that way and that the sin is intentional. Am I to +hang for it, or will you be merciful and make it a prison offence?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, you’ll get the hanging soon enough if you go on wearing that red +bodice and stringing pictures of King George on your balcony!”</p> + +<p>“So mother says. And hanging is not a becoming way to die; one has no +opportunity to say that ‘prunes, prisms, and preserves’ sentence that +leaves the mouth in such a charming pucker. Well, since my lips are to +be awry, I trust they will give me time to put on my new silver-buckled +shoes. It would be a comfort to know that at least my feet looked their +best.”</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn! You are perfectly horrid.”</p> + +<p>“You mean I would be without the ‘prunes and prisms’ expression.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p><p>Mary struck her horse and rode forward a few yards, but presently fell +back again beside her companion.</p> + +<p>“What I asked you just now related to Eustace. Do you think—”</p> + +<p>“I said I was not thinking.”</p> + +<p>“Well, begin at once. Is there any danger that Eustace will really try +to marry Betty Clevering?”</p> + +<p>“Danger is a wrong word, Mary. If Eustace is ever so fortunate as to win +Betty, he should spend the rest of his life in thanksgiving. She is as +true as steel, and better tempered than either of us.”</p> + +<p>“I am not disparaging Betty, and I have often wished our parents were +not at outs, so that she and I might be better friends; we only meet at +your house or places of entertainment. But, Joscelyn, you know—you must +know what we all have hoped for you and Eustace.”</p> + +<p>Joscelyn turned her eyes fully and calmly upon her companion. “Yes, I +know. I should have been even duller than you pronounced me just now not +to see through your plan. Diplomacy is not your <i>forte</i>.”</p> + +<p>“You knew I—we all wanted you to marry—”</p> + +<p>“Eustace? Yes; he and I have often laughed over it to each other. And +now that you have mentioned it, I want to tell you frankly that there is +not the faintest possibility of such a thing. As a friend Eustace is +charming; but as a husband—”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p><p>“Don’t! Your mouth looks as if you had bitten a green persimmon.”</p> + +<p>“Well, I think with Eustace as a husband life would be all green +persimmons, without any prunes or prisms to break the monotony. It would +be quite as bad on him as on me; you would make us both utterly +miserable.”</p> + +<p>“I cannot believe it. I know Eustace looks at Betty with the utmost +admiration, and manages often to meet her; but ’tis much the same way +with every pretty girl,—he must be saying sweet things to each of them. +But in his heart I feel sure he prefers you above all the rest, only +your indifference holds him aloof. Here is a letter I had this morning, +in which he devotes a whole page to happy imaginings about a soldier’s +welcome home when the war shall be over. He grows really poetic about +shy eyes and the joy of holding a white hand in his. Whom can he mean +but you?”</p> + +<p>“Betty has shy eyes, and Janet has the whitest hands I know anywhere. As +you said, Eustace has a roving fancy.”</p> + +<p>Mary sighed. “I intended to read the letter to you, but here we are at +the bridge, and we will now be meeting so many people.”</p> + +<p>“Give it to me; I will read it at home,” Joscelyn said, stretching out +her hand with sudden interest. “It would be preposterous to waste all +that sentiment on a mere sister; it takes an outsider to appreciate +touches like that. Oh, it shall be read <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>with all the accessories of a +grand passion—sighs, smiles, blushes, and suchlike incense.” She +laughed as she tucked the letter into her belt, but she did not say who +the reader would be, and Mary took much comfort in the thought that she +would appropriate the sentimental parts to herself. Whose eyes were +softer than Joscelyn’s, whose hands whiter or sweeter to hold?</p> + +<p>And so, each thinking her own thoughts, they crossed the wooden bridge +that spanned the river, the horses’ hoofs making a rhythmic clatter on +the boards. In the street beyond they came upon Mistress Strudwick +carrying an uncovered basket heaped high with hanks of yarn. The road +was a slight ascent, and the corpulent dame was puffing sorely.</p> + +<p>“Why, Mistress Strudwick, you with such a load as that? What does this +mean?” cried Joscelyn.</p> + +<p>“It means that that little darky of mine has run away again, and that +there’ll be one less limb on my peach tree to-night when he comes back.”</p> + +<p>“Will you not take my horse and ride?”</p> + +<p>“It’s been thirty years since I was in a saddle, and I’m not honing to +wear a shroud.”</p> + +<p>Joscelyn leaned down, and catching the handle, lifted the basket to the +pommel of her saddle. “I will not see you make yourself ill in this way. +Were there no other servants to spare you this exertion? You are all out +of breath.”</p> + +<p>A curious light came into the old lady’s eyes as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>she saw the girl +steady the basket in front of her; but she checked the words that had +sprung to her lips and trudged slowly along, the riders holding back +their horses to keep beside her.</p> + +<p>“What have you two been plotting together this afternoon?” she asked, +looking from one to the other with the pleasure age often finds in +contemplating youth and beauty.</p> + +<p>“Have we the appearance of dark conspirators?” laughed Joscelyn.</p> + +<p>“Nay, you both look sweet and innocent enough; but somehow I’m always +giving that Bible verse a twist and reading it: ‘Where two or three +Tories are gathered together, there is the devil in their midst.’”</p> + +<p>“You should not twist your Scripture, Mistress Strudwick.”</p> + +<p>“Mayhap not, but sometimes it makes an uncommon good hit.”</p> + +<p>“Well, you were wrong to-day. Two Loyalists have been congregated +together; but Cupid, rather than the devil, has been our +co-conspirator.”</p> + +<p>“So! It was sweethearts you were discussing? Tell me now, was it your +match or Mary’s you were arranging? There is nothing pleases me more +than a wedding.”</p> + +<p>“I thought you took no interest in matters concerning King George’s +subjects.”</p> + +<p>“King George has naught to do with the wooing of our maids; and love is +love, whether it be Redcoat or Continental,” replied the old matchmaker.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p><p>Joscelyn laughed. “I verily believe you’d like to know the courtship of +Satan himself, provided he had one.”</p> + +<p>“Of course he had, my dear, and a most engaging lover he made, I’ll be +bound, seeing he is so apt a beguiler in other things. Oh, yes, +everybody knows that Satan is a married man.”</p> + +<p>“Where got he his wife?”</p> + +<p>The old lady threw up her hands with quizzical scouting: “’Tis not set +down in the books, but it would have been just like some soft-hearted +creature to creep after him when he was exiled from heaven. And she is +not the only woman who has followed a man to perdition, either,—more’s +the pity!”</p> + +<p>“You are seeing things awry to-day, Mistress Strudwick.”</p> + +<p>“Mayhap, mayhap,” puffed the old lady. “I haven’t much of a prophet’s +eye, but I see things of to-day plain enough, and I know that you are a +pair of uncommon pretty girls, and are like to have many a beau on your +string; but when marrying time comes, take an old woman’s advice and +choose a man who is hale and hearty, for as sure as you are born, love +flies out of the heart when indigestion enters the stomach.”</p> + +<p>“Truly, Mistress Strudwick, you are better than ‘Poor Richard’s +Almanac,’” laughed Joscelyn.</p> + +<p>“Oh, my dear, I’ve seen it tried. Courtship is the finest thing in the +world, but after the wedding love is largely a question of good cooking; +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>and although you two are rank Tories, and so deserve any punishment the +fates might send you, still I’d be glad, because of your comely looks, +to see you escape your deserts. But here we are at my gate. I wonder +what the town will say, Joscelyn, when they hear that you, Tory that you +call yourself, brought a basket of wool for Continental socks from +Amanda Bryce’s to my door.”</p> + +<p>The girl’s face flamed with a sudden heat. Then she said with that +beautiful courtesy that older folks found so charming:—</p> + +<p>“It was not for the Continentals, but for my good neighbour that I +brought the basket. I am not minded to see her kill herself in so bad a +cause; rather do I want her to live and repent of her mistakes, that she +herself may not be the first to solve that riddle of the devil’s +wooing.” And kissing their hands jauntily to the old woman, the two +girls rode away into the purple twilight.</p> + +<p>“Bless her bonny face and quick tongue!” the old woman cried, waving her +hand after them.</p> + +<p>That night Mary cried herself to sleep over her shattered hopes, and in +the privacy of a white-curtained room, Joscelyn read aloud the letter to +her whom Eustace had in mind when he thought of the welcome of shy eyes +and clinging white hands. And Betty fell asleep with the letter under +her cheek, and all the soft June night was filled with flitting cadences +and starry dreams.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>ON MONMOUTH PLAIN.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox6 bbox"><p>“Wut’s words to them whose faith and truth<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On war’s red techstone rang true metal;</span><br /> +Who ventured life and love and youth<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the great prize o’ death in battle?”</span></p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Lowell.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">A</span>nd it was June-time, too, in the far-off New Jersey country across +which an army, glittering with scarlet and steel, took its way. Slowly +it moved; for with it went a wagon-train conveying many of the refugees +from the evacuated city of Philadelphia, people who could not crowd into +the transports that went by sea, but who feared to meet the incoming +Americans and so sought safety in New York. Children and delicately +reared women slept in army tents, or sat in their coaches all day, +listening to the crunching of the wheels in the sand and looking back +through the slowly increasing distance to the horizon, behind which lay +the deserted city where pleasure had held high carnival during the +months just passed. And with them they carried everything that could be +packed into coach or hidden in wagon; and though they went with the +semblance of victory and almost of pleasure-seekers, it was a sad +procession; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>for who could say when or upon what terms they might ever +see their old homes again? Often Clinton looked back impatiently at the +crawling train, for he had not liked to be so hampered, and yet had been +quite as unwilling to abandon these people to the vengeance they +imagined awaited them.</p> + +<p>Almost before they had lost sight of the spires of the city, Arnold, +with braying bugles, marched his column down the echoing streets, and +set up the standard of the republic where late the British lion had +wooed the wind.</p> + +<p>For nearly a week that long train crept on its way, held back by its own +cumbersome weight and the varying roughness of the route. And ever on +its flank hung the lean but resolute army of the Continentals, waiting +and longing for a chance to strike. All the suffering of Valley Forge +was to be avenged. Every wrong they had sustained was whispering at +their ears and tugging at their memories; every dead comrade seemed +calling out to them for retribution through the sunshine or the midnight +silence. And it should be theirs; the utmost atonement that arms, nerved +with patriotic and personal vengeance, could achieve should be +claimed—if only the hour would come. But still that long train moved +onward, and there came no word to fight.</p> + +<p>Then, from out the blue sky-reaches of that June-time dawned Monmouth +day.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p><p>“We are to fight at last!”</p> + +<p>And every man in that thin, dishevelled line felt his heart throb with +the exultation of action long desired and long delayed. Every man but +one, and he the one on whom rested the responsibility of the attack.</p> + +<p>“Anybody but Lee!” Dunn had said with a groan, when he heard who was to +lead the attacking column. And Richard, having gone with him to report +some scouting work to the council of officers, and recalling Lee’s +fierce opposition to any plan for battle, groaned too.</p> + +<p>“His envy of General Washington and his imprisonment among the British +have made him half Tory. He is the senior officer, it is true,—but if +he had only persisted in his first refusal to lead the division and left +it to La Fayette!”</p> + +<p>But in Richard’s thoughts there was no time for doubt when, in the +brilliant light of the next morning, he swept with his column over the +brow of the low hill and on down the narrow valley toward the scarlet +line that marked Clinton’s post. It was his first real battle; for +compared with this the engagements under Sumter had been but skirmishes, +and the frenzy of the fight was upon him. “For home and Joscelyn!” had +been the war-cry he had set himself, thinking to carry into the hottest +of every fray the memory-presence of the girl whom he loved. But when +the test came she was forgotten, and only the menace ahead, the death he +was rushing to meet, was remembered. Every <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>musket along that steadfast +scarlet line seemed levelled at him alone, and into his heart there +flashed a momentary wish to turn and seek shelter in flight from the +leaping fire of the deadly muzzles. But in the quick onset, the shouts, +the growl of the guns, and the challenging call of the bugles, this fear +was conquered; and in its place a wild, unreasoning delirium seized upon +him, and the one thought of which he was conscious was to kill, kill, +kill!</p> + +<p>To those blue-clad men, burning with the memory of their sufferings and +their wrongs, it seemed as if nothing could stand before them; but +British regulars were trained to meet such an advance, and the red line +was as a wall of adamant. Between the attack and the repulse there +seemed to Richard scarcely breathing-time; for they were repulsed, and, +fighting still, were driven back through that narrow defile, expecting +every moment that Lee would send them succour so that they might again +take up the offensive. But instead of reënforcements, there came that +strange order to retreat. Retreat? Had there not been some mistake? The +officers looked at each other incredulously, suspiciously, half-inclined +to disobey; for the battle was hardly yet begun, and this first check +was not a rout. Then full of rage and doubt they repeated to their +subordinates the orders of the couriers, and the regiment fell back +sullenly, clashing against other regiments who had not struck a blow, +but to whom had also <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>come that mysterious order to fall back. What was +the matter, what was this paralyzing hand that had been laid upon them! +No one could tell; but men retreated looking longingly over their +shoulders at the enemy. Confusion grew almost into panic as those still +further away saw the retiring columns pursued by the Redcoats, and knew +not the cause nor yet what dire disaster had befallen.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly upon the field there came the Achilles of the cause, and +the rout was turned.</p> + +<p>“The general—thank God!” the officers sobbed; and the men cheered as +those who are drowning cheer a saving sail.</p> + +<p>Richard was too far off to hear the fierce protest and rebuke heaped +upon Lee, but in a few minutes an aide galloped up to his regiment and +cried out to Wayne:—</p> + +<p>“General Washington says you and Ramsey are to hold the enemy in check +here upon this hillside until he can re-form the rear.”</p> + +<p>And the blue line swung about and steadied, and met the English face to +face; and Richard Clevering’s battle-cry rang full and clear amid the +yells that well-nigh drowned the roar of the musketry. About that +sun-scorched knoll there fell the fiercest part of the fray. The palsy +of hesitation was gone, and desperation had made the men invincible. +Again and again that red wave from the open space before surged against +them, broke and recoiled and gathered and came again like <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>some strong +billow of the ocean that rolls itself against a headland—fierce, blind, +futile.</p> + +<p>Then came the climax of the splendid tragedy. Upon Wayne’s right was a +Continental battery from which a great gun sent its deadly challenge to +the foe. Again and again its whirring missives tore great gaps in the +red ranks, until Clinton gave orders to silence it at any cost.</p> + +<p>Careless of danger, unconscious of his impending doom, the gunner loaded +his piece anew, and lifted the rammer to send the charge home. Behind +him stood his wife, who had left the safety of the wagons to bring him +water from a wayside ravine, for the sky was like copper and the dust +blew in suffocating gusts. She saw what he did not, the shifting of the +enemy’s gun in the plain below, the turning of its deadly muzzle full +upon the knoll where they stood. But there was no time for so much as a +warning cry; for instantly the flame leaped out, the ground shook with a +strong reverberation, and a groan went up from the Continentals as they +saw the dust fly from the knoll and their own brave gunner throw up his +arms, swing sidewise, and then fall dead. For one awful moment no one +moved; then two men from the line sprang forward to take his place, but +some one was before them—some one with the face of an avenging Nemesis. +There was the flutter of a skirt, a woman’s long black hair streamed +backward on the wind, and Moll Pitcher stood in her husband’s place like +an aroused lioness of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>jungle. Fury gave her the strength of a +Boadicea, and the rammer, still warm from the dead man’s grasp, went +home with a single thrust; the flame flashed over the pan, and with a +roar that shook the heavens, the big gun sent back into the red ranks +the death it had witnessed. When the smoke had lifted, the breathless +men saw the woman, one hand still upon the great black gun, stoop down +and kiss the dead husband she had avenged; and all down the Continental +line eyes were wet and throats were cracked and dry with cheering.</p> + +<p>All the rest of that fateful day, with the eyes of her dead love +watching her staringly, Moll Pitcher held her place beside the gun, +solacing her breaking heart with its flash and roar, holding back her +woman’s briny tears until the silent vigils of the night, when her +mission was accomplished.</p> + +<p>And in the meantime, in the rear, the voice of a single man, with its +trumpet tones of inspiration, was bringing order out of chaos. Regiments +were re-formed, scattered companies gathered, batteries turned, and +defeat robbed of its surety. Men, who a moment before had been +panic-stricken with the confused marching and counter-marching of the +day, looked into the face of the commander and felt their hearts beat +with an answering calm. Confidence was restored, and the routed corps +were turned into attacking columns. And so when that red wave broke for +the last time against <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>Wayne’s and Ramsey’s divisions on the hillside, +reënforcements were close at hand.</p> + +<p>But they came too late for some of the brave men who had saved liberty +and honour that day, for the red wave, receding, took as its flotsam all +the men in buff and blue who, in their enthusiasm and temerity, had +advanced too far beyond the ranks.</p> + +<p>And among these prisoners went he whose battle-cry had been, “For home +and Joscelyn!”</p> + +<p><a name="illo2" id="illo2"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 326px;"> +<img src="images/i089.jpg" class="ispace" width="326" height="500" alt="“RICHARD WAS DRAGGED ALONG WITH THE BRITISH UNTIL THEIR +POSITION WAS REGAINED.“" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“RICHARD WAS DRAGGED ALONG WITH THE BRITISH UNTIL THEIR +POSITION WAS REGAINED.“</span> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>IN CLINTON’S TENTS.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox5 bbox"><p>“Give me liberty or give me death.”</p> +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Patrick Henry.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">H</span>atless, furious, half-blind from dust and the trickling of the blood +from the wound in the head that had dazed and rendered him powerless to +escape back to his own ranks after meeting the enemy, Richard was +dragged along with the British until their position was regained, and +thence despatched to the rear, where the other prisoners were held under +guard. There he lay on the ground for an hour, listening and longing +feverishly for the sound of Washington’s assaulting guns; but the +twilight deepened into starlit dusk, and no rescue came. Then finally he +knew by the preparations about him that no further attack was expected, +but that a retreat was intended. Clinton dared not await the return of +daylight and the fight it would bring; and so in the still hours of the +night, while the Continentals slept the sleep of utter exhaustion after +the marches and counter-marches and combats of that sultry day, he drew +his force away, leaving his dead unburied upon the field, and his sorely +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>wounded in the deserted camp. To the very last moment, Richard had +listened for an attack, hoping that Washington had waited to plan a +surprise; but over in the direction of the American camp all was silent. +During the last half of that awful night Richard marched with the squad +of prisoners along the road that led to the sea. The wound in his head, +although but slight, made him dizzy with its throbbing, and his heart +called out fiercely for freedom and Joscelyn. He had asked not to be put +into the wagon with the wounded, protesting he was more able to walk +than some others; but in reality he was meditating an escape, and knew +it would be more easily accomplished from the ranks than from a guarded +wagon. Eagerly he watched for a chance. The bonds that at first held the +prisoners together had been removed to expedite the retreat,—there was +no time that night to spare for any kind of lagging,—so that he was +free to go alone if the opportunity came. Always his gaze was ahead, +every shadow across the road held a possibility, every dark hollow was +entered with hope. But the guard, as though divining his intention, +closed in compactly at these points and made egress impossible; and so +he plodded on until, with the returning daylight, they found him reeling +like a drunken man with fatigue and loss of blood, and, putting him into +an ambulance, carried him on toward Sandy Hook. From utter weariness and +hopelessness he fell asleep in the jolting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>vehicle, and only waked at +the prod of a bayonet to find the sun well past the zenith.</p> + +<p>“Get up with you and let somebody take your place while you foot it a +bit,” a rough voice said; and Richard sprang from the vehicle and helped +little Billy Bryce, of his own town, into his place, exclaiming +vehemently against his own selfish slumbering.</p> + +<p>“Nay, nay,” said the lad, “I am not wounded, more’s the shame to me for +being taken! Besides, I have had a long rest under the wagon here, for +we halted before noon. I begged the guard not to waken you, but I put +your rations aside. Here—you must be near to starvation.”</p> + +<p>Richard caught eagerly at the pork and ship biscuit which the lad held +out; it seemed ages since he had tasted food.</p> + +<p>“And you’ll be better with your head washed,” the guard said, not +unkindly, pointing to a little stream that trickled by the roadside; and +Richard was quick to obey.</p> + +<p>In a little while they were in motion again, this time more leisurely, +and once more thoughts of escape filled Richard with a restless energy. +The country was more broken here; to hide would be easier, and he waited +impatiently for the coming of the dark, determined at all hazards to +make the attempt—another sunset might put him behind prison bars. But +he was doomed to disappointment, for they were not to march all night, +but with the early stars pitched their tents <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>upon a flat stretch of +country that opened to the east.</p> + +<p>Worn out by the long marches and the cloying sand through which they had +toiled, the army soon slept profoundly. Tied together for greater +security, the prisoners lay like so many sardines in their tent, before +which trod a sentinel. At first there was much whispering among them as +to their probable fate, and not a few solemn farewells to home and dear +ones, with now and then a happy reminiscence such as often comes with +the acme of irony to doomed men. One recalled his courting days, another +the swimming pool under the willows; and yet another his baby’s laugh. +And set lips relaxed into smiling until suddenly the memory stabbed with +a new pain.</p> + +<p>“I shall never see my mother any more, for I know I shall die in that +dreadful prison; but you’ll be good to me, won’t you, Richard?” groaned +little Billy Bryce, who lay next to Richard with his right hand tied to +the latter’s left.</p> + +<p>And Richard comforted him as best he could, and by and by the lad slept +with the others.</p> + +<p>“I hope they will always let me stay with you,” had been his last sleepy +whisper. For among the bigger boys Richard had been his hero and +protector, and no service was ever too great for him to undertake for +his idol. And Richard had petted and yet imposed upon him in the way +peculiar to all boys of a larger growth, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>when a small one asks nothing +better than to obey. It was really to be with Richard as much as to +share in the war that he had stolen away from his mother and followed +the Hillsboro’ men to the field.</p> + +<p>At last the tent was quiet save for the deep breathing of the tired men, +but Richard could not close his eyes; he meant to get away. After the +watch was changed toward midnight was the time he had set as the most +favourable for his plan. All being then found secure, the new guard +would be over-sure—and he, like the rest, was worn out with the trials +of the past two days. Certainly that was the best time; a confident, +tired sentinel ought not to be hard to elude. And he lay still, softly +gnawing the rope that bound him to Billy. As he was at the end of the +line, his right arm was free, and so his fingers aided his teeth to pick +the threads apart. Thus an hour went by, and then the lad beside him +stirred.</p> + +<p>“What are you doing, Richard?” he whispered; then added quickly, as his +arm felt the loosened cord: “Why, you have bitten the rope in two. You +are going to escape? Take me with you, in mercy’s name, Richard; do not +leave me to die in the prison yonder! Richard, let me go, too.”</p> + +<p>“H—sh!” whispered Richard, sternly, for the boy’s excitement was like +to arouse the whole body of prisoners, perchance even alarm the guard +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>outside. “Be still, Billy! I cannot take you—two could never pass the +guard. I am sorry; I—I—wish you had not waked.”</p> + +<p>But the lad, whose arm was now free because of the final severance of +the cord, caught his hand as with a drowning grip: “You must take +me—you must!”</p> + +<p>“I cannot.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I will not go on to rot in that vile prison; I am so young, and my +mother has nobody but me! Don’t you know how I have always loved you, +Richard? You never asked me to do anything that I was not ready to try +it. I’d never leave you here if I were going to freedom—never!”</p> + +<p>To take him lessened his chances more than half, and Heaven knew how +slender they were already; but the struggle in Richard’s mind lasted +only a moment. Then he leaned over the boy’s body and began carefully +and quietly to untie the cord that bound him to the next sleeper, +stopping now and then when the man made any movement. The lad, guessing +his consent by his action, spoke no word, but lifted his head and kissed +him on the cheek; and Richard felt the tears that coursed down the +smooth face.</p> + +<p>“You confounded young idiot!” he whispered, but his voice was very +tender, and presently, when the knot was loosed, he drew the lad close +to him and told his plan.</p> + +<p>“God grant we may both of us get safely <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>away; but if only one of us +succeeds, and that should be I, then will I carry your love to your +mother.”</p> + +<p>“And if I escape, I shall do the like for you.”</p> + +<p>“Ay, laddie, and more; for you shall say to Joscelyn Cheshire that even +behind prison bars I am her lover; and if death comes, her face, or the +blessed memory of it, will outshine those of the angels of Paradise.”</p> + +<p>“You love her so, then?”</p> + +<p>“As a man loves sunshine and warmth and beauty and life.”</p> + +<p>“And she loves you?”</p> + +<p>“No, lad, she loves me not.”</p> + +<p>And the boy left the silence that followed unbroken, knowing the other +wished it so.</p> + +<p>A while later they heard the call of the watch farther down the beat, +and presently the sound of steps outside and the welcome “All’s well!” +of the relieved sentry. Turning upon their backs with the ravelled ends +of the cords hidden close between them, they seemed asleep like their +comrades when the watchman cast the light of his lantern through the +flapping canvas door.</p> + +<p>“Too d—n tired to give any trouble,” the out-going sentinel said as he +glanced along the line. “You will have an easy time to-night.” Then he +went away, and the two watchers in the tent waited for what seemed an +eternity. Finally Richard lifted the edge of the tent and looked out. +The sentinel leaned against a small tree in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>front of the tent, his gun +held slack in his fingers. He was very tired, even to drowsiness.</p> + +<p>“Now,” Richard whispered, and crawled stealthily from under the rear of +the tent, followed by Billy. Keeping in the shadow of the tents, they +moved on hands and knees across the ground toward a clump of bushes that +promised a hiding-place for reconnoitring. Only twenty yards the stretch +was, but to those two crawling figures it seemed a mile. Every weed that +swayed against its fellow had in it the sound of a rushing wind, and +every twig that broke under hands or knees seemed like the crack of a +rifle. To their overwrought senses each breath the other drew was as the +sough of a tempest, and they scarcely understood how the sentry could +not hear. So slowly they had to move that it took fully twenty minutes +to cover those few yards. Then, while Billy lay still in the shadow, +Richard raised himself stealthily and looked about. They could have +happened upon no worse place for their attempt. It was near the end of a +short beat up and down which two sentinels trod, passing each other near +this end, so that only a few moments intervened when one or the other +did not command the whole beat with his eye and gun. Behind and on +either side stretched the tents of the sleeping army, set thick with +picket posts and guards. On the other side of the narrow road was a rock +large enough to conceal a man, and beyond this was a field of high +grass, to gain which meant freedom. Not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>a detail of the starlit scene +escaped Richard. To go backward or to the right or left was to fall into +repeated dangers; this was the way since they were here. If only the +sentries passed each other in the middle of the beat, that there might +be more time when this crossing in front of them would be a little +longer unguarded!</p> + +<p>He stood irresolute, trying to think accurately; but a noise behind left +him no time for further hesitation. Something was amiss yonder in the +rear,—perhaps their flight had been discovered. Billy, too, had heard, +and rising, stood close behind; softly he put out his hand and drew the +lad before him. One agile spring across the road, a moment’s hiding in +the shadow of the rock yonder, then the tall grass and liberty; but +between the passing of the sentinels was time for only one man to cross +to safety—only one man could hide yonder behind that rock! The little +lad saw it, and his lips twitched.</p> + +<p>“Good-by,” he whispered, trying to move back.</p> + +<p>But Richard held him fast. In his hands was not the semblance of a +tremor, but his face was ashen even in the dim light.</p> + +<p>“Remember Joscelyn,” he breathed, rather than spoke; then, as the guard +passed, he gave the lad a push. “Go.”</p> + +<p>With a stealthy, gliding step Billy was across the road and behind the +rock as Richard dropped to the ground and the guard turned round. +Evidently the man’s trained ear had detected some <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>sound, for he paused +and brought his gun to his shoulder. Richard’s eyes were on the rock +over the road; if Billy moved now, they were both lost; but all was +still, and the guard once more took up his march. When he was gone a few +paces Richard saw a dark object crawl from the shadow of the rock, and a +moment later the tall grass shook as if a gentle zephyr had smitten it +in just one favoured spot; then all was silent and moveless save the +crickets and the night birds flapping past in the gloom.</p> + +<p>Billy had left the way clear, and when the next sentinel should be at +the right place Richard meant to follow, and so he drew a deep breath +and waited. But fortune was against him, for before the man was quite +opposite to him another guard came out into the road from the camp +behind and accosted him. As they approached, Richard heard in part what +they said:—</p> + +<p>“—couriers just arrived—enemy moving on the Brunswick road, supposed +intention to out-flank us. All outside pickets are being doubled to +prevent desertion, and I am sent to mount guard here at the end of your +beat. Two Hessians were caught in the act of deserting just now.”</p> + +<p>“I heard some kind of commotion.”</p> + +<p>“Yes; ’twill go pretty hard with them to-morrow. When we first took them +we thought they were a couple of those prisoners who were trying to +escape, and the air fairly smelt of the brimstone <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>we were ready to give +them. The light came just in time to save them. Those Hessians are a +d—d set of hirelings.”</p> + +<p>He stooped to adjust his shoe-latchet, and when the regular guard passed +on to the end of his beat Richard dropped down quickly, but with an +inward groan, for with that man stationed there at the end of the track +escape was impossible. There had been but one chance, just one, and he +had given that away. He would not regret it, but—he should never see +Joscelyn again. It was all he could do to keep back the fierce cry that +gathered in his throat. For a long time he crouched there, hoping in the +face of despair; but the dawn was coming—if he was found thus, his +punishment would be made the greater. There was no use in courting +torture. And so, when a passing cloud obscured the stars, he crawled +back across the clearing, and crept at last under the edge of the tent.</p> + +<p>“Here, Peter,” he whispered in the ear of the next man, “Billy has +escaped. I failed; but ’tis no use to tempt the devil to double my +stripes. Wake up and tie this cord about my left arm that it may seem as +if he gnawed it himself until it was loose.”</p> + +<p>And in the morning the guard found him asleep with a bit of ravelled +rope about his arm. Search and inquiry failed to reveal anything of +Billy’s escape or his whereabouts, and the incident, so far as the +prisoners were concerned, ended in the volley of oaths and threats +delivered to them second-hand <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>by the guards from the officer of the +day. They were not pleasant words to hear; but Richard only drew a deep +breath, for he had feared Billy would linger waiting for him and so be +taken.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>FROM CAMP TO PRISON.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox3 bbox"><p>“My day is closed! the gloom of night is come!<br /> +A hopeless darkness settles o’er my fate.”</p> +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Joanna Baillie.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">M</span>any times during the day’s march did Richard turn his eyes wistfully +toward the blue hills to the south, and wonder beyond which of them +Billy was speeding to rejoin his command. The thought had in it such an +element of bitterness that finally he thrust it from him lest it wax +into selfish envy.</p> + +<p>Finally they reached their goal, and the vast body of men and animals +halted beside the bay whose waters sparkled under the blue and gold +tones of the summer sky. In the offing lay the English fleet, which by +the happiest chance for Clinton had arrived inside the Hook in time to +convey his exhausted army to New York.</p> + +<p>The quick, salt wind whipping Richard in the face, gave him a sense of +vigour and reserve strength, which was speedily nipped by a chilling +realization of his hopeless captivity. Mechanically he ate and drank +when the guard bade him; for the prison bars were now inevitable, and he +would lie rusting his heart and manhood out <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>while the fight went by +outside. In an agony of despair he cursed the impetuous daring that had +led him so far in advance of his column as to deliver him into the hands +of the enemy. And he cursed both the moonlight that had flooded the road +the first night of their march, and the guard whose lynx eyes seemed +ever upon him; and finally he cursed himself more sorely than aught +else, because he had not followed Billy at all hazards and let a bullet +end the problem forever.</p> + +<p>But life is sweet to youth, and hope finds ever a place in the heart +that is full of an unsatisfied love; and so by the time he had finished +his spare meal he was ready to look at the future with more calmness. +Outside in the free world Joscelyn would wait for him, and prison doors +must sometimes yawn. The soldier who brought him his supper stayed for a +few minutes to talk. He had a frank, friendly face that Richard liked.</p> + +<p>“So we gave your sly general the slip after all, and held to our march +as we at first intended.”</p> + +<p>“Did Clinton originally and intentionally propose to make a night march +at almost double-quick over such roads as we have traversed? D—d queer +military tactics.”</p> + +<p>The fellow grinned. “Oh, a little change of programme mattered not, so +we lost not a single wagon of our train. See, they are yonder, as safe +as a ship in port.”</p> + +<p>“Mayhap; but you saved your skins whole by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>stealing away from Monmouth +like a thief in the night, and, leaving the foe you pretended to +despise, camped on the battle-ground.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, we begrudge not you fellows a camping ground—we are not that +greedy.”</p> + +<p>“No; you wanted them, in fact, to have all the ground in the vicinity, +even if you had to be so unselfish as to march all night to leave it to +them.”</p> + +<p>“Come, your tongue’s too sharp,” the fellow said irritably.</p> + +<p>“Sharper than your general’s wits, if he took that march out of anything +but necessity. He has saved his baggage train, but, mark you, he has +lost his cause. Our victory at Monmouth will hearten up the doubtful and +send them flocking to our camp.”</p> + +<p>The man laughed satirically at the word “victory,” and then said:—</p> + +<p>“Well, at all events, your part of the flocking is done for good. ’Tis +not likely you’ll see the outside of a prison for more months than you +are years old—if by any chance your general hangs on that long, which +is not likely.”</p> + +<p>Richard shivered at mention of a prison, but shrugged his shoulders with +outward calm. “A man must bear the fortunes of war, if he be a true +soldier. Prison life is harder than fighting, but some must carry the +heavy end of the burden, and ’tis not for me to bemoan if it falls to +me. Know you in which of your pest holes we are like to be confined?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p><p>The soldier looked into the clear, steady eyes for a moment before +replying: “You’re a rum chap to take your medicine without a whine. I +like your sort, and I hope, when this cursed war is done, you’ll be +found alive; but it isn’t likely, for methinks you are to go to the old +Sugar House in New York. ’Tis as full as an ant-hill now, but they’ll +shove the poor devils a bit closer together and squeeze you in. You’ll +have plenty of time, but not much room, to meditate on your evil doings +against King George. Still, I hope you’ll live through it.”</p> + +<p>He picked up the empty can out of which the prisoner had been drinking, +and moved on. Richard, who had been sitting upright during the +conversation, sank back upon the ground and pulled his cap over his +eyes. The old Sugar House! Too well he knew of the misery and +degradation in store for those who crossed its threshold. No escapes +were ever effected, and the hope of exchange, unless one were an +officer, was too slim to dwell upon; Washington’s captures went for +higher game than privates and raw recruits. But two things could open +these relentless gates to him—death or the end of the struggle; and the +latter seemed far enough away.</p> + +<p>And Joscelyn! would she care that he suffered and died by inches? Would +she think of him regretfully, tenderly, when all was done? It was hard +to love a girl of whose very sympathy one was not sure; and yet he knew +he had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>rather have her mockery than another woman’s caresses.</p> + +<p>For an hour he lay upon the ground, his heart convulsed with grief, but +his body so rigidly quiet that his companions thought he slept. They +could not tell that under his cap his eyes were staring wide, seeing, +not the cap above, but a girl’s face framed in soft meshes of hair and +lit by eyes as gray-blue as the sea when the tides are quiescent and the +winds are fast asleep. By and by the intense heat of the evening set the +wound in his head to throbbing, and rousing up, he begged the corporal +of the guard for a little water and a bandage. The man—the same with +whom he had talked before—brought these to him after a little delay, +and found for him in his own kit a bit of healing salve, which his +English mother had given him at parting.</p> + +<p>“She said ’twould cure bad blood, and methinks yours is bad enough to +put it to the test,” he said, laughing, and yet with a certain rough +kindliness.</p> + +<p>“Well, since it hath not killed you, methinks I am safe,” Richard +laughed back gratefully, while one of his comrades dressed the wound, +which gave promise of speedy healing.</p> + +<p>“What is your name?” he asked of the corporal.</p> + +<p>“James Colborn, of the King’s Artillery.”</p> + +<p>“Well, ’tis a pity you are in such bad employ, for you have an uncommon +good heart and a face that matches it. When General Washington <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>hath +licked the boots off you fellows, come down south and pay me a visit. My +mother’ll be so grateful for every kind word you have spoken to me, that +she’ll feed you on good cookery until you are as fat as a Michaelmas +goose.”</p> + +<p>“I’ll come,” the other laughed, “but I’ll wear my boots; it will be you +fellows who will go barefooted from a licking.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t wager your birthright on that; you’d lose even the mess of +pottage.”</p> + +<p>Under the relief the dressing of his wound afforded, Richard fell +asleep, and his dreams must have been comforting, for on his face was a +smile of happiness, and the words he murmured made the corporal of the +guard laugh to himself as he trod to and fro before the open tent.</p> + +<p>“Have you a favourite dog named Joscelyn?” he asked teasingly, when he +roused Richard for supper.</p> + +<p>“No.”</p> + +<p>“A horse, then?”</p> + +<p>Richard looked at him questioningly, half-inclined to be angry.</p> + +<p>“You have been talking in your sleep.”</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn is not a dog nor a horse; she is my sweetheart.”</p> + +<p>“Mine’s named Margie.”</p> + +<p>There was a moment of silence during which the two young fellows felt +almost akin with friendly sympathy. They longed to shake hands and tell +each other their love tales.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p><p>“Margie’s eyes are black,” said Colborn softly.</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn has sea-blue eyes.”</p> + +<p>“I like black ones better.”</p> + +<p>“I’d love Joscelyn’s eyes, were they as vari-coloured as Joseph’s coat.”</p> + +<p>“Well said.” The speaker thrust his hand into his shirt and drew out a +metal case which contained a picture of a buxom English girl. “It took a +whole month’s pay to have that made, but I wasn’t coming to America +without bringing a likeness of her to look at. When I am promoted to a +captaincy I shall have it set in gold and brilliants. She is counting +the months until I go back to her,” he continued with a burst of +confidence, while his honest face flamed with a boyish blush. “For every +week I am away, she drops a pebble into a china jar I gave her, that I +may count the kisses she shall owe me when we meet. Never you doubt but +I shall cheat in the count, though I have to carry back a pocketful of +American pebbles to help me out!” Then, by way of prelude to that coming +happiness, he kissed the picture with eager frankness before returning +it to the case, saying there were already twelve pebbles in the jar.</p> + +<p>Many times during the few days when the army lay encamped upon the sandy +reaches of the Hook did Richard have occasion to be grateful to the +young corporal for little acts of kindness, and in return he told him +something of his own life, so that a curious friendship was formed +between <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>the two; and when the embarkation finally came, Richard was +glad to find that the same guard and officers would have the prisoners +in charge until the dreaded doors of the jail should close upon them.</p> + +<p>As they marched clankily down the streets of New York, he believed that +now he knew how condemned men felt as they approached the gallows, only +the gallows seemed better than those frowning walls yonder, at whose +narrow windows the miserable inmates stood in relays that each might +draw a few good breaths during the long and suffocating day. The old +Sugar House! He set his teeth hard when at last they stood before its +doors, and the first squad of prisoners passed out of sight within its +gloomy portals. He was telling the sunshine and the clouds good-by +before his turn to enter should come, when, to his surprise, the doors +swung to, and the squad in which he marched was wheeled down another +street. After a few minutes he caught Colborn’s eye, and read therein +tidings of some new disaster. Whither were they carrying him and his +unfortunate companions! No faintest hint of their destination came to +him, until, the city being crossed, they halted again, this time beside +the water’s edge, far to the east. As some delay was evident, the +corporal bade the prisoners sit down upon the shore; and while his men +formed in the rear to watch, he himself passed slowly up and down the +water’s edge, stopping at last beside <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>Richard, who sat at the end of +the line of captives as much to himself as possible, for his heart was +heavy with a new forboding.</p> + +<p>“In ten minutes,” said the corporal, speaking quickly and in an +undertone, “I shall have parted with you, perhaps forever. I know you +for a brave man and a generous one, and I am sorry for your fate. The +plan has been changed. The Sugar House would not hold all of you; so, +for lack of other accommodations, this squad of prisoners is ordered +to—”</p> + +<p>“Where?”</p> + +<p>“—to the prison-ships lying across the bay.”</p> + +<p>Richard staggered up. “The hells, the floating hells!”</p> + +<p>“Yes, that is what they are sometimes called.”</p> + +<p>“My God!” For a moment the fortitude that had sustained him during the +last ten days gave way, and he sank down again, covering his face with +his hands in a dry-eyed anguish.</p> + +<p>“I wish from my soul that I might have helped you, but this is all I can +do,” the corporal said. “Pick them up as a gift from a brother in arms.” +He surreptitiously dropped some coins upon the sand, and Richard, more +because of the friendliness of the gift than because he thought of their +value, ran his fingers through the sand and picked them up, shoving them +into a torn place in the lining of his boot.</p> + +<p>“You have been good to me—” he began slowly, and with the look of a man +who is talking <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>unconsciously; but with an impatient shrug the other had +moved away. When he had walked the length of the line and stood looking +over the water a minute, he came again to Richard’s side, apparently +with no special object in view. His voice was very low as he said:—</p> + +<p>“True soldiers respect each other, no matter what the colour of their +uniforms. I guessed—but I want to know for certain—did you let the +little lad escape the other night rather than go by yourself and leave +him?”</p> + +<p>Richard nodded. Colborn took off his hat. Those who watched him from the +sand and from the picket line thought he but bared his head to the cool +sea breeze, but in truth it was to a brave man’s self-sacrifice. A +Scripture verse was running in his head: “Greater love hath no man than +this, that he give his life for his friend.” But he did not speak it, +for a boat grating on the sand behind made him turn.</p> + +<p>“The ship’s warden to receive you,” he said, with a quick-drawn breath. +“God help you!” Then aloud: “Attention!”</p> + +<p>The prisoners arose and lined up as the boat’s crew came ashore. The +warden conferred a few minutes with the corporal, went over the list of +prisoners, counted them carefully, eying each one sternly as he did so; +then turned again to the corporal, who, after another short conference, +stepped out before the line of prisoners.</p> + +<p>“Attention! My care of you ends here. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>warden of the prison-ships +will henceforth have you in charge.” At a signal his men fell back, and +the crew from the ship’s long-boat took their places; the two officers +saluted, and the corporal stepped aside.</p> + +<p>“Attention! Forward! March!” the warden shouted, pointing with his sword +to the boat; and the handful of dazed and miserable captives, like so +many automatons, caught step and sullenly moved to the water. As +Richard, who brought up the rear, passed Colborn, the latter +whispered:—</p> + +<p>“Your Joscelyn shall know,” and Richard’s eyes spoke his thanks.</p> + +<p>Then the boat drew away from shore, carrying its freight of helpless +despair to the plague-infected hulk rocking in the tide, the plaything +of the winds, the sport of every leaping wave that cast its crystal +fringes to the sun.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>A MESSAGE OUT OF THE NORTH.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox7 bbox"><p><span style="margin-left: 3em;">“I love thee, and I feel</span><br /> +That in the fountain of my heart a seal<br /> +Is set, to keep its waters pure and bright<br /> +For thee.”</p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Shelley.</span><br /></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p style="float: left; font-size: 100%; line-height: 80%; margin-top: 9px;">“</p><p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top: 2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span>t’s all very well for our husbands and sons to be away fighting for +their country—I’d horsewhip one of mine who sneaked at home; but for +all that, this manless state of the town is a terrible test to the +tidiness and the tempers of the womenfolk,” said Mistress Strudwick, as +she sat on her porch with some chosen cronies, and watched the young +girls of the town promenading in the aftermath of the July sunset with +never a cavalier among them. “Look at Lucinda Hardy, she’s as cross as a +patch; and yonder is Janet Cameron, who has not curled her hair for a +week—just mops it up any way, since there are no men to see it.”</p> + +<p>“And there’s ’Liza Jones without her stays,” said Mistress Clevering.</p> + +<p>“Yes, and looking for all the world like a comfortable pillow that has +just been shaken up; but if there was a man under threescore in seeing +distance, she’d be as trim as you please,” replied <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>Mistress Strudwick. +“Heigh-ho, what a slipshod world this would be if there were nobody but +women in it!”</p> + +<p>“And what a topsy-turvy place ’twould be with only men. Nobody’d ever +know where anything was,” said quiet Mistress Cheshire, with poignant +recollections of striving to keep up with the belongings of two +husbands. “Depend upon it, Martha Strudwick, the world would be a deal +worse off without women than without men, for men never can find +anything.”</p> + +<p>“I am quite of your mind, Mary. In sooth, I always had a sneaking notion +that Columbus brought his wife along when he came to discover America, +and that ’twas she who first saw the land,” said Sally Ruffin.</p> + +<p>“I don’t seem to remember that there was a Mistress Columbus,” said Ann +Clevering, biting off her thread with a snap.</p> + +<p>“Well, goodness knows there had ought to have been, for Columbus had a +son,” replied Martha Strudwick, greatly scandalized, although her own +knowledge in the matter was somewhat hazy.</p> + +<p>“How ’pon earth did we ever get to talking such wise things as history?” +asked Mistress Cheshire, whose <i>forte</i> was housewifely recipes.</p> + +<p>“We were saying as how men never could find things.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Martha Strudwick, thoughtfully, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>“that depends on what kind +of things you mean. Now there’s my husband—and he’s a good man, good as +common—he can find a fish-hook in the dark if it’s good biting season; +but he can’t see the long-handled hoe in the broad daylight if it’s +weeding time in the garden and the sun is hot. Finding things depends +more on a man’s mind than his eyes.”</p> + +<p>“Then there’s a heap of them who lose their minds mighty handy,” +retorted Ann Clevering.</p> + +<p>Mistress Cheshire pushed back her chair: “I shall run home and caution +Dilsy about putting the bread to rise; she’s that unseeing that I think +Providence must have first meant her to be a man.” Which was as near a +joke as anything Mistress Cheshire ever said. As she trotted away the +others looked after her affectionately.</p> + +<p>“Mary is such a mild-mannered woman,” said Ann Clevering; “many’s the +time I’ve heard her first husband—dead and gone these twenty-three +years—say it was an accident little short of a miracle how Providence +could make a woman with so little tongue.”</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn, with her goings-on, must be a dreadful trial to her,” sighed +Amanda Bryce.</p> + +<p>“And not only to her mother, but to the whole town,” snapped another +woman.</p> + +<p>“Hoity-toity!” bristled Mistress Strudwick, “what’s the matter with +Joscelyn? She is the very life of the place, now that the men are gone. +If ’twere not for discussing her, and abusing her,”—with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>a withering +glance at the last speaker,—“we should go tongue-tied for lack of +somewhat to talk about. She’s a tonic for us all, and without her we’d +be going to sleep.”</p> + +<p>“Sleep is a good thing,” sniffed Amanda Bryce.</p> + +<p>“Ay,” retorted Mistress Strudwick, “when you are tucked in bed and the +lights are out, it is; but not when you are standing up flat-footed with +baking and brewing and weaving and such things to look after. Joscelyn’s +all right, Tory though she be. Look at her now, with all those red roses +stuck around her belt; she’s the finest sight on the street.”</p> + +<p>“Fine enough to look at, I’m not gainsaying you; what I object to is +hearing her when she talks about our war.”</p> + +<p>“Well, Amanda, if our swords were all as sharp as her tongue can be, the +war would soon be over.”</p> + +<p>“You always were partial to the lass, Martha.”</p> + +<p>“Ay, I often told Richard Clevering I’d be his rival were I a man, old +or young; and truly I believe Joscelyn would look with more favour upon +me of the two,” laughed the corpulent dame, remembering the soft little +touches with which the girl sometimes tidied up her gray hair and unruly +neckerchief, and the caress upon her cheek that always closed the job.</p> + +<p>“I wonder you can take up so for her, Martha, when all your menfolk are +in the Continental army, and she a rank Tory.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I can forgive a woman her politics, because, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>like a man’s +religion, it’s apt to be picked up second-hand and liable to change at +any time.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t you believe men have any true religion?”</p> + +<p>“Well, ye-e-s; if the rain comes in season, and the crops are good, and +the cattle don’t break into the corn, and their victuals are well +cooked, they are apt to be middling religious.”</p> + +<p>“Remember you have a husband of your own.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, praise God, I have, and a good man he is, too; but when the dam in +the levee breaks, or the cows get the hollow-horn, he’s that rearing, +tearing put out that he couldn’t say offhand whether preordination or +general salvation was the true doctrine; but the time never comes when +he’s too mad or too worried to know he’s a Whig, every hair of him. That +is what makes me say religion is a picked-up habit with men and politics +is their nature. With a woman it’s the other way; so I laugh at +Joscelyn’s politics, and kiss her bonny face and love her all the time.”</p> + +<p>“That is more than I can do. If it were not for her mother, I should +forbid my daughter to have aught to do with her,” said Amanda Bryce, +sniffily, as Joscelyn passed the gate with Betty Clevering and Janet +Cameron, and called up a pleasant “good afternoon” to the elder women.</p> + +<p>“Well, your girl and not Joscelyn would be the loser thereby,” retorted +Martha Strudwick, regardless of the fact that she was in her own <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>house; +and there would doubtless have been sharp words had not Mistress +Clevering interposed with some gentle remonstrance.</p> + +<p>A little later the whole party of young people began to move toward the +tavern; for it was the day the post was due, if by good fortune it had +escaped the marauders and highwaymen who, in the assumed name of war, +infested the roads. Always there was a crowd about the tavern on +Thursday afternoons, in hopes that news of the fighting and of friends +would be forthcoming. This particular day they were not disappointed; +for the women on the porch, looking up the street, presently saw that +something unusual was to pay, and forgetful of bonnets or caps, they +hastened to learn what it was. The postbag, with its slender store, lay +neglected on the table, for the crowd had gathered eagerly about some +one on the steps, and exclamations and questions filled the air.</p> + +<p>“What is it?” demanded Mistress Strudwick, breathless from her haste, +and the crowd divided and showed a lad, pale and worn, sitting on the +steps.</p> + +<p>“Billy, my Billy!” shrieked Amanda Bryce, and passing the other women, +she caught him in her arms and hugged him frantically. For a few moments +no one spoke or interfered, but after the dame had kissed every square +inch of his face, and had felt his head, shoulders, and arms for +fractures, Martha Strudwick interposed.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p><p>“Come, Billy, tell us where you come from and what news you bring from +the front. Has there been a fight, boy?”</p> + +<p>“Ay, and a victory for us.”</p> + +<p>“A victory? Hurrah! When? Where? Talk quick!” cried a dozen voices +shrill with their eagerness.</p> + +<p>“At Monmouth town in Jersey. ’Twas there we overtook Clinton as he made +for New York.”</p> + +<p>“We have already had rumours of it. And you did fight him and put him to +rout? Who fell, and who was wounded? Can’t you talk faster?”</p> + +<p>“Truly we did fight when we got the chance, though Lee—the foul fiends +take him!—tried hard not to let us. It was the hottest day I ever felt. +The sand and dust—”</p> + +<p>“Never mind about the sand and dust; tell us of the battle.”</p> + +<p>And so by piecemeal, with many a question and interruption, he told them +the story of that remarkable battle and his own capture.</p> + +<p>“And who was taken with you?”</p> + +<p>“Master Peter Ruffin, Amos Andrews, and Richard Clevering from our +company, and some threescore more whom I knew not.”</p> + +<p>But only a few heard the last clause of his sentence, for among the +women were relatives and friends of each of the men mentioned, and there +were sobs and moans for the fate of their loved ones. So great was the +abhorrence in which British prisons were held, that death <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>seemed almost +preferable. Then presently Betty Clevering cried shrilly:—</p> + +<p>“And if you were captured, how comes it you are here?”</p> + +<p>“I escaped.”</p> + +<p>“And how many escaped with you?”</p> + +<p>“None—none; not even Richard.”</p> + +<p>Mistress Ruffin took him sharply by the arm. “Do you mean to say that a +strip of a lad like you had sense enough to get away, and grown men were +held? That’s a pretty tale!”</p> + +<p>And then with stifled sobs he told of Richard’s sacrifice and his own +getting away.</p> + +<p>“For an hour I waited there in the grass, hoping for him to come; and +when I dared stay no longer I crept to the hillside and hid in a little +cave, from which I watched the army in the distance take up its march +next day. I started once to go back and die with Richard in prison, +but—”</p> + +<p>“Talk not so, my son; ’twould have killed me and done Richard no good,” +cried his mother, caressing his curly head against her shoulder. +“Richard did not want you back—God bless him for a generous lad!”</p> + +<p>“No,” sobbed the lad, “he is so noble, so good; and I let him go back, +let him sacrifice himself for me, for had I but slept on he would have +gotten away.”</p> + +<p>All this while Mistress Clevering had not spoken; now she lifted her +head, and no mother of Sparta ever looked more proud or more resigned.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p><p>“Yes, you were right to come away; he gave you your freedom at the cost +of his own, and it would have grieved him had you returned and made the +sacrifice useless. ’Tis a beautiful thing to be the mother of a son like +that. I am content.” And Martha Strudwick leaned over and kissed her +softly.</p> + +<p>“And how fared it with you when the British had marched away?” asked his +mother of Billy.</p> + +<p>“I reached the coast and followed it for two days, when I came to a +village whence a trading vessel was leaving to smuggle its cargo to the +south. The captain took me on, and after ten days I was put ashore near +New Berne town, from which place I have made my way home, travelling +with the post these two days.”</p> + +<p>“You have not then been back to the army?”</p> + +<p>“No, but I shall start to-morrow, now that I have seen you, mother, and +when I have given Richard’s messages to Mistress Clevering and—”</p> + +<p>He stopped; but his glance had travelled to Joscelyn standing at the +edge of the crowd, and Janet Cameron laughed.</p> + +<p>“What said my boy? Out with it!” cried Mistress Clevering, eagerly.</p> + +<p>“He did send you his dear love, even as he was to bring mine to mother +had I been the one left behind. I would I could tell you how reverent +and tender his voice was when he spoke your name.”</p> + +<p>The Spartan in the woman broke down, and the mother prevailed. “My son, +my dear son, did God <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>give you in answer to my prayers only to take you +away like this? What may he not be suffering at this very moment, and I +who have watched him from his cradle powerless to help him! Oh, but war +is a cruel thing! My son, my son!”</p> + +<p>Betty and Mistress Cheshire led her away weeping, and for a few minutes, +silence held the women as they looked away to the north and thought of +the strife enacting, and the pain being endured there for liberty. And +besides those carried away into captivity, how many others—perhaps +their own nearest and dearest—had been left on the battle-field?</p> + +<p>“See,” cried Amanda Bryce, turning fiercely on Joscelyn, whose eyes, +full of a misty tenderness, were following Aunt Clevering down the +street—“see what you miserable Tories are doing to us, your neighbours! +Shame upon you, I say; shame upon you!”</p> + +<p>“Ay, shame upon you!” cried several voices; and faces scowled and a few +fists were clenched. The girl cowered back, amazed, affrighted.</p> + +<p>“Pull those red roses out of her belt; we want no Tory colours here!” +cried Amanda Bryce; and two or three hands reached toward the knot of +scarlet blossoms. But Joscelyn, her eyes beginning to kindle, stepped +back and raised her own hand warningly.</p> + +<p>“Do not touch me! Yes, I am a Tory, as you are pleased to call us, and I +am not ashamed that the king’s army hath been preserved from +destruction; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>but I am sorry, very sorry your friends and kindred are to +suffer—though perhaps some punishment is necessary to rebels.”</p> + +<p>Mistress Strudwick started to the girl’s side, but little Billy Bryce +was before her.</p> + +<p>“Who touches Joscelyn must first pass me!” he cried to the angry women. +“Mother, be silent! What share could a girl like this have in our +capture; and what matters a few men taken when the victory was ours?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, praise God, we thrashed the miserable cowards of Redcoats as they +deserved.”</p> + +<p>“A great thrashing ’twas, when they lost not a wagon of their train, and +took more prisoners than Washington,” Joscelyn answered tartly.</p> + +<p>A dozen voices answered her angrily, and she opened her lips to reply, +but Mistress Strudwick clapped her broad palm over the girl’s mouth.</p> + +<p>“Hold your saucy tongue, Joscelyn; and you girls, there, be silent this +minute. What, is the war to ruin the manners of our women that they can +descend so low as to brawl in the public streets? Shame upon you, every +one! What hath come of your senses that you thus demean yourselves and +belittle the raising your elders gave you?”</p> + +<p>The reproof had the desired effect; for the girl stood silent and +abashed, and her angry assailants drew back. Taking advantage of the +lull, Mistress Strudwick seized Joscelyn by the arm and almost forcibly +drew her away.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p><p>“Begone to your home, and bide there till you learn some sense,” she +cried sharply. “What’s the use in butting your brains out against a +wall, when there’s room enough to go around it? There is no fool like a +self-made fool! Go.” But when the girl had gone a few steps she made her +return. “Promise me truly,” she whispered, “that you’ll go straight home +and stay until the fire you kindled here burns down a bit—promise you +will not stir from the house, or I shall not sleep to-night.”</p> + +<p>“I promise, dear Mistress Strudwick,” Joscelyn said, kissing the big +hand that patted her cheek. “You heard me say I was sorry our townsfolk +were taken, and so I am.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, yes. Harkee, tell your mother I say to be sure and send Amanda +Bryce a loaf of hot bread for supper—Billy will be hungry with running +so far from Monmouth,” she said, with a meaning wink. In truth, she +intended the hot bread as a peace-offering to Mistress Bryce, for it was +by such small acts of quiet diplomacy that she kept down the enmity +against the Cheshires, or rather against Joscelyn, since she it was who +aroused the resentment.</p> + +<p>Slowly the girl went down the street thinking of the scene just passed. +Mistress Strudwick was right; it was a disgrace for women to brawl thus +upon the public thoroughfares; never again would she let her temper get +the better of her in this way—only they should not touch her. And +already <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>half-forgetful of her resolution, she mounted her steps with +flashing eyes and flaming cheeks.</p> + +<p>Presently lights began to glimmer through the dusk, and when the dark +really came every house in the town showed a candle in its window in +token of the advantage won at Monmouth, for since Washington held the +field they deemed him victorious. Even in those houses where grief had +entered, the light shone; for true patriotism is never selfish. Only the +Cheshire windows were dark, so that the house made a blot in the street. +Mistress Cheshire had gone to the Cleverings to condole with them over +Richard; but Joscelyn, because of her promise to Mistress Strudwick, had +bided at home, though she would much have loved to comfort Betty. From +porch to porch the women called to each other, and some of the girls +sang snatches of song here and there, like mocking-birds hid in the +shadows. But Joscelyn sat at her upper window, silent and musing, +thinking what a beautiful thing Richard Clevering had done to let the +little lad go free while he himself went back to captivity. Suddenly a +voice below her whispered:—</p> + +<p>“Hist! Joscelyn, Joscelyn!”</p> + +<p>She leaned over the window-sill. “Who is it?”</p> + +<p>“It is I—Billy Bryce. I have only a minute, for mother must not know I +came, but I have a message for you.”</p> + +<p>“From whom comes it, Billy?”</p> + +<p>“From Richard. Come quickly.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p><p>She ran lightly down to the veranda and leaned over the railing to the +boy in the shadow. He took her hands eagerly in his.</p> + +<p>“He loves you, Joscelyn!”</p> + +<p>She did not answer. He was too earnest for a jest, so she only pressed +his hand and waited.</p> + +<p>“He is so noble, so generous, Joscelyn; even among us younger boys he +never did a mean thing, and there’s not a man in the company who is not +his friend.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, I always knew Richard had a kind heart, and his letting you go in +his stead was unselfish—beautiful; and I honour him for it.”</p> + +<p>“And do you not love him for it also?” the lad begged wistfully. “Say +that you love him just a little.”</p> + +<p>“Nay, Billy; he is brave and kind, and he is my friend and Betty’s +brother, therefore do I wish him naught but good fortune and happiness; +but, laddie, I do not love him.”</p> + +<p>“You are cruel—heartless!” he cried, flinging her hands away. +“Richard’s little finger hath more feeling in it and is worth more than +your whole body.”</p> + +<p>“Your championship does you credit, Billy, and I shall not quarrel with +you for appraising my value so low. Mayhap Richard thinks differently.”</p> + +<p>“Ay, that he does—more’s the pity!” Then taking her hands again, he +said vehemently: “An you come not to love him, I pray God to curse <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>you +with an ugliness so great that no other man may ever kiss or love you! +For listen; as we lay in the dark that night waiting for the moment to +escape, this is what he said: ‘If you get away and I do not, say to +Joscelyn Cheshire that even behind prison bars I am her lover; and that +if death comes, her face, or the blessed memory of it, will outshine +those of the angels of Paradise.’ That was his message. I have faced +many dangers to bring it to you. Now that you have it, I shall go back +to my regiment, and if a ball finds me, well and good; Richard will know +somehow and somewhere that I did not fail him.”</p> + +<p>The girl dropped her head low in the starlight.</p> + +<p>“Good-by, Billy; you have filled your mission bravely. Heaven keep you +safe and send you back once more to your mother and us.”</p> + +<p>He put up his hand and stroked her cheek softly.</p> + +<p>“I do not wonder that he loves you, Joscelyn, you are so beautiful, and +you can be so sweet—so sweet,” he exclaimed, and then ran away into the +dark, leaving her alone with the words of the love-message ringing in +her ears.</p> + +<p>So still she stood that a big moth flying wearily by rested a moment on +her shoulder; across the way her mother was bidding Aunt Clevering good +night with admonitions to sleep well, and from down the street came the +voices of the singers chanting of victory and the home-coming <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>of loved +ones. But above everything the girl on the dark balcony heard a deep, +strong voice saying, “Even behind prison bars I am her lover.”</p> + +<p>Prison bars!</p> + +<p>And suddenly she threw up her arms in the flower-sweet dusk and +whispered vehemently:—</p> + +<p>“Set him free, dear God! set him free!”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>DREAMS.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox6 bbox"><p>“For thoughts, like waves that glide by night,<br /> +Are stillest when they shine.”</p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Old Song.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p style="float: left; font-size: 100%; line-height: 80%; margin-top: 9px;">“</p><p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">R</span>ouse up, Richard! Rouse up, man! An you give way like this, you’ll +soon be taking the ship-fever and dying. ’Tis no use to wilfully hasten +the end,” said Peter Ruffin to the apathetic man beside him.</p> + +<p>But Richard sat staring over the waters, saying only in a dogged way, +“’Tis no use to retard it.”</p> + +<p>“Ay, but it is; something may happen—Washington may drive Clinton from +New York—”</p> + +<p>“He cannot, for he hath not the force.”</p> + +<p>“—Or we may escape.”</p> + +<p>Richard glanced around the deck where guards, armed to their teeth, trod +in ceaseless vigil, and then looked away to the shore, where a few +cabins marked the station of the shore patrol who took up the watch +where the ship guard left off, thus making assurance doubly sure.</p> + +<p>“With the sea and a double guard against us, the chance is not worth the +counting.”</p> + +<p>“A resolute man could swim ashore from here.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p><p>“Methinks he could most easily, especially with the tide in his favour; +but if he eludes the watch here, the patrol yonder will shoot him like a +rat when he crawls out of the water. No, Peter, I have gone over it all +in my mind, calculated the method of reaching the water, the length of +the swim, and the best place to land. I have even tried to get speech +with Dame Grant when she comes with her wares, to see if she could not +be bribed to aid me; but the warden never takes his eyes from her until +her sales are over and her boat ready to start. She has a solemnly sour +face, but mayhap a gold piece would soften her heart to mercy. It was +for this that I have hoarded Colborn’s gold.”</p> + +<p>“I, too, thought of the bumboat woman, but gave up hope of aid from her, +seeing how she is watched. ’Twere as much as her life is worth to give +us the smallest assistance,” answered Peter.</p> + +<p>“Yes, we are cut off from every chance, condemned—doomed—and seeing +this, I have given up hope.”</p> + +<p>“I am some twenty years your senior, Richard, and I say to you that a +sane man never ceases to hope.”</p> + +<p>“Then mayhap I am insane—sometimes I think it may be so. Surely, it was +the arch-fiend himself who put it into the hearts of the English to turn +these disease-infected hulks into prisons; no mere mortal mind could +have in itself conceived such a thought. The fever or the vermin—which +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>were worse, ’twere hard to say. To rot here inch by inch, and the fight +going on outside! God, but ’tis hard!”</p> + +<p>“Hist! the guard is looking at you suspiciously. ’Tis no use getting his +ill-will; let us talk of something else.” And when the sentinel passed +slowly in front of them, the older man was talking of his boy who had +died in childhood, and the younger one had dropped his head again upon +his breast and sat in moody silence. Thus had life crept on for five +weeks, each day of which was a slow-paced agony, each night a long-drawn +horror.</p> + +<p>Wallabout Bay, where the prison-ships were anchored, cut into the Long +Island shore on the north, and was protected from the storms that rocked +the outer deep. Most of the prisoners were seamen, but now and then a +squad of land captives, for lack of some other place in which to confine +them, were sent thither to starve and suffer and wait their turn to die. +The wound in Richard’s head had healed, thanks to Colborn’s salve; but +the confinement, together with the scant and rancid food and the foul +air in the ship’s hold where the nights were passed, was slowly +undermining his strength of body and of will. Each morning the inhuman +order, “Rebels, turn out your dead!” which the guard called down through +the opened hatches, sent a shiver of horror to his very soul; and the +feeling was not lessened as he aided in selecting the poor fellows who +had died in the night, and saw them sewed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>into their blankets and rowed +away to shallow graves upon the shore. Two of the prisoners were made to +act as grave-diggers on these occasions, the guard going merely to +superintend.</p> + +<p>Twice in the past weeks Richard and Peter had gone in the funeral-boat, +and on each occasion thoughts of making a break for liberty had haunted +them. But the futility of such an attempt was made apparent by the +proximity of the shore patrol, within range of whose guns the graves +were dug. The nearest cover was a line of sand-dunes and stunted +brush-growth fifty yards up the level beach, before reaching which a man +could be pierced by twenty bullets. Regretfully and angrily the two men +noted this; and later on had it all doubly impressed upon them by the +shooting of a prisoner who, one day, when the grave was half-filled, +made the mad attempt to get away. Only one of the two impressed +grave-diggers came back in the boat that day, for the other was buried +where he fell; and the harshness of the ship-jailers increased toward +those who remained.</p> + +<p>“Look,” said Richard, shuddering, the second time he and Peter were +detailed to take a corpse to the sandy burying-ground; “already the +waves have opened some of the graves and left the poor fellows but the +scantest covering. Before long their bones will whiten to the sun.”</p> + +<p>“It is a sickening certainty! And all of this you and I might escape if +so we would but go <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>back yonder to the warden and take the oath of +allegiance to the king, and change these tattered coats for gay uniforms +of scarlet,” answered Peter.</p> + +<p>“True; but like those who have gone before us, we will die in the ship +yonder and fester here in the sand first. Between death and English +slavery there is a quick choice, and we made it long ago. But promise +me, Peter, that if I die first you will ask to come as my sexton, and +dig me a grave deep enough to keep me from the sea for at least a little +while.”</p> + +<p>“I will; and you will do a like thing for me. But as I told you the +other day, you will go before me, and soon at that, if so you keep up +this dreary moping.”</p> + +<p>But Richard could not bring himself to hope. The absolute helplessness +of their position, the powerlessness of action of any sort took from him +the ability to reason normally. Everything twisted itself backward to +the wretched and relentless present, turn where he would for +consolation. And so after the morning tasks of airing blankets and +scrubbing decks were performed, he sat all day looking sullenly out over +the water, studying the changing moods of the sea, watching the gulls as +they flapped past or went soaring upward with the glancing sunlight on +their wings. And all this while there was but one clear thought in his +mind—Joscelyn. Plainer than the faces about him he saw her features, +and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>above the ship noises and the restless wash of the waves, he heard +the sweet accents of her voice. Incessantly he brooded over each memory +of her, recalling the chestnut tints of her hair, the blue lights in her +eyes, and the rose hues of cheeks and lips. Her beauty had never before +appeared to him so great or so much to be desired as now.</p> + +<p>“Even behind prison bars I am her lover;” often he said the words to +himself, wondering morbidly if Billy carried her the message, and what +she said in answer. He would never know, of course, for his career must +end yonder in the sand with his unfortunate fellows; but liberty itself +would not be sweeter than some token, it mattered not how small, of her +sorrow and her favour. How he longed for her, body and soul! Always in +fancy he kissed her good night, holding the sweet face between his palms +and watching to see the eyes droop under his ardent gaze, and the +delicate lips quiver with the passion of his caress. He told himself it +was only such fleeting fancies as these that kept him sane. For in these +moments she was tender and loving, and she was all his; and the unknown +husband—he who would one day claim her in reality when he himself, with +his idle dreams, should be dead and gone—he hated with a jealous rage +as vital as though the man stood before him in the flesh; and he looked +at his fingers with a dull sense of their strangling powers, and longed +to feel them tighten over a purpling throat. Peter talked of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>heaven, of +its rest and peace; but how could there be for him either joy or peace, +even in Paradise, while another man held Joscelyn in his arms? Often in +his cloying misery he tried to make out who this other lover would be; +but no one, not even Eustace Singleton, seemed to fill the place. Once, +and his heart had been hot with jealousy at the thought, he had imagined +that under hers and Eustace’s frank friendship there lingered a warmer +feeling; but this fancy stood no test of observation, for in no act of +Joscelyn’s was there a trace of that air, indescribable yet +unmistakable, that marks the beginnings of love; and of late months +Eustace had a way of looking at Betty that put strange fancies into +Richard’s head. No, Joscelyn and Eustace were not lovers; it would be +some one else, some stranger who would claim all the sweetness of her +love. And at the thought the murderous fingers writhed upon each other, +and the sweat of agony was on his brow. Then his fancy would take +another turn. There was no other lover, there never would be any other; +by strength of his love she belonged to him here and would be his +through all eternity. In heaven there is no marrying nor giving in +marriage, so the Bible said; but surely God would be merciful to him, +knowing how he had missed his happiness here.</p> + +<p>This was the dream-palace in which he dwelt, while he gazed vacantly +over the sunlit sea and waited to be sewed into his blanket and carried +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>across to the white sands by those who, in their turn, one after +another, should follow to the same end.</p> + +<p>And then, one morning when August was well on the wane, something +happened that broke the spell of deadening despair that held him in its +grasp.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>NEWS OF LOVE AND WAR.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox bbox"><p>“Hidden perfumes and secret loves betray themselves.”</p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Joubert.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p style="float: left; font-size: 100%; line-height: 80%; margin-top: 9px;">“</p><p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">J</span>oscelyn, from my upper window I have seen a rider turn into the next +street and make for the tavern. Perchance he brings news or letters. +Will you come with me and see?” It was Betty’s voice under her window, +and Joscelyn put her head out a moment to say she would go; then ran +downstairs. And go she did in spite of her mother’s vehement protest.</p> + +<p>“’Tis scarce three weeks gone since you were reviled in the streets as a +Tory, and now you will go thrust yourself in place to receive the same +treatment again. ’Tis folly—ay, worse than folly!”</p> + +<p>But Joscelyn scarcely heard, for in the street Betty was pulling her +along at such a pace.</p> + +<p>“Methought you would be glad to get a letter from—well, from—It is +something over three weeks since you last heard from—” a shy little +laugh finished the sentence, and she gave Joscelyn an extra pull which +set them into a run.</p> + +<p>“How glad somebody would be to see you in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>such haste to get a letter +written to me,” panted Joscelyn, laughing.</p> + +<p>“Whither away so fast?” cried Mistress Strudwick from her door; but they +did not stop to answer, only calling back merrily that a man, grown, yet +not old, nor crippled, nor blind, had ridden into the square, and they +were going to have a look at so wonderful a curiosity.</p> + +<p>As they turned into the open space before the court-house, the town-bell +struck a few resonant notes, a signal from the decrepit old ringer that +there was news for somebody. In a few minutes the place was thronged +with eager wives and mothers and sweethearts crying out for tidings of +their loved ones. Did the man bring any? Yes, he was but now out of the +north; whither he went mattered not to them, a man’s mission was his own +secret, but in his pouch were letters for towns along the route, and he +brought, besides, news of the dreadful massacre in Pennsylvania. And +when the few letters were distributed he stood upon the steps and told +the pitiful story of Wyoming Valley.</p> + +<p>“The able-bodied men were away fighting with Washington; only the old +men and women and children remained. Upon this helpless band hundreds of +British and Indians, led by Butler, fell, driving them to the fort. +Thence the men, shaking with age, but not with fear, sallied to the +attack, were defeated and captured, and in sight of those within were +tortured with every fiendish <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>device the savages could invent. Then the +fort surrendered, and in spite of Butler’s efforts tomahawk and +scalping-knife did their deadly work among the helpless captives. +Outraged women, spitted upon rails, saw their tender babes brained +against rocks and trees. The yells of the captors were mingled with the +cries for mercy and the shrieks of the dying, and night was turned into +day by the light of burning villages. In all the beautiful valley not a +house was spared; and where had been prosperity is now but a desolate +wilderness strewn with graves and ruins.”</p> + +<p>When he finished, women were weeping upon each other’s necks, thinking +of their own little ones and those other murdered babies. And fierce was +the denunciation of Butler for enlisting in his army savages whose +brutality could not be controlled. This was not war; it was +assassination, as cowardly as it was cruel.</p> + +<p>So bitter was the feeling aroused, that for a while the fact that the +courier had brought some letters was quite overlooked, until Mistress +Nash and Janet Cameron came forward with epistles which contained +messages for many of those present. Then it was remembered that the +other two letters had both been for Joscelyn Cheshire, and immediately a +dozen voices demanded her. But she was already well down the street, her +arm linked in Betty Clevering’s.</p> + +<p>“Come away, Aunt Cheshire will be wretched about you,” the latter had +whispered to her, remembering <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>the scene in this very place a few weeks +before and dreading a repetition of it, and in her secret heart wishing +that at least one of the letters in Joscelyn’s hand should not be read +aloud to the public, knowing well that in it was some love-message for +herself, for was not that why Eustace wrote so often to Joscelyn? And so +she dragged her companion back the way they had come; but as they walked +Joscelyn tore open the letter with the familiar seal, exclaiming +gayly:—</p> + +<p>“Paper is not scarce with Eustace, since he sends me three whole sheets. +Let me see—Betty—Betty—Betty—just in a fleeting glance I see your +name some eight times. What a fondness he hath for writing the word!”</p> + +<p>“Let me read with you, Joscelyn,” cried Betty, her cheeks very bright; +and drawing close together the two girls held the sheet between them and +slackened their pace. But they were not left long to their privacy, for +by the time they reached the Cheshire door a dozen neighbours were upon +them.</p> + +<p>“So, so, Joscelyn, be not running away with your tidings. Tell us what +Clinton is doing in New York,” exclaimed Mistress Strudwick, who had +come with the others to give the girl countenance, if so she should need +it.</p> + +<p>“Ay, do not be playing the selfish, but give us the news,” cried several +voices.</p> + +<p>“I am as ignorant as you of General Clinton’s doings,” the girl said, +smiling at the first speaker; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>“for, as far as I have got, the letter is +full of questions about somebody here at home.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, a spying letter for information, no doubt,” sneered Amanda Bryce. +“The courier said they were both from some one in New York. Who writes +to you from Clinton’s army?”</p> + +<p>“Eustace Singleton, a handsome lad whom you know right well, Mistress +Bryce.”</p> + +<p>“He sends you two letters by the same hand? Faith! he is an ardent +correspondent.”</p> + +<p>“Nay, this other letter is in a strange writing. I know not yet who hath +sent it.”</p> + +<p>“Break the wafer and read it to us.”</p> + +<p>“I do not choose, Mistress Bryce, to give my letters to the public.”</p> + +<p>“Do not choose, because you do not dare.”</p> + +<p>“Do not dare?”</p> + +<p>“Hush, Joscelyn, she does not mean what she says,” put in Mistress +Strudwick.</p> + +<p>“Yes, I do mean it, Martha, every word of it. She dare not read it, +because it is a spying letter,—asking information, mayhap, which may +give us over to a massacre like to that of Wyoming: that’s why she dare +not.”</p> + +<p>A chorus of cries and hisses arose, but the girl on the step did not +quail. Her delicate lip curled with scorn. “’Tis false! You do all know +I would be incapable of such wickedness.”</p> + +<p>“Then read us the letter and prove it.”</p> + +<p>“I will not.”</p> + +<p>She thrust the letter into her bosom and faced <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>them with flashing eyes, +the very picture of defiance. But a touch from Mistress Strudwick +quelled the storm within her. Turning swiftly, she put her arm around +the old woman’s neck. “There, I am going to be good. I would not +distress you and mother again for the world. But you know I have the +right of it.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” echoed Janet Cameron, taking her place on the other side of +Joscelyn. “We all know that though you are a Tory, you are no traitor; +and I say, Out upon Mistress Bryce for hinting such a thing! I am a +Continental, and my father is in Charleston fighting for the cause, but +I would trust Joscelyn Cheshire to the end of the world!”</p> + +<p>Out in the crowd the sentiment against the girl instantly changed, and +all but Amanda Bryce applauded Janet’s words.</p> + +<p>“Eustace Singleton writes her naught but love-letters—let her keep +them!” cried another girl. “Methinks I should not want the world to be +reading my sweetheart’s letters and counting the kisses he sends me.”</p> + +<p>“No, nor those he gives you,” said Martha Strudwick, with a merry wink, +and instantly there was a great laugh, for the girl had been caught +kissing her lover the winter day on which the troops had marched, for +which imprudence her mother had soundly boxed her ears.</p> + +<p>“And now,” cried Joscelyn, when the laugh had passed, “to prove that +there is no treason in this letter, I shall let Betty Clevering—as good +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>a Continental as the best of you—sit down yonder on the bench and read +every word of it before I myself have seen it. Here, Betty, be you the +judge whether what is herein writ is of treasonable import; and mind you +skip nothing, particularly the love passages.” She laughingly pushed +Betty upon the bench, and leaving Eustace’s letter in her hands, came +back to Janet’s side.</p> + +<p>“My letter was from my brother, Joscelyn; and he said he knew not where +Richard had been sent. He himself is in the old Sugar House in New York; +what he suffers he will not say, but we can guess, since so much has +been said of the place.”</p> + +<p>Joscelyn kissed the tearful face softly. “Perchance your imagination is +over-vivid. It grieves me to the quick that any of our townsfolk should +suffer.”</p> + +<p>“It will be a great relief to his mother to know that Richard is not in +the Sugar House.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, there is only one worse prison in the country, and that is for the +captured seamen.”</p> + +<p>“Do not let us talk of its horrors.”</p> + +<p>So the conversation went on until Betty Clevering, her face like a +budding rose, came forward again.</p> + +<p>“This letter,” she said, holding up the missive, “is one of friendship +merely; in it I find absolutely nothing against our cause, save a curse +on the war that keeps the writer from—from her he loves.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p><p>“Dear me, to see her blush one would think it were Betty’s love-letter, +not Joscelyn’s.”</p> + +<p>“How shy she looks!”</p> + +<p>“Betty, was it writ so tenderly that you, who are but an outsider, are +abashed to read it? Truly, I wish Master Singleton would give lessons in +love writing. My man talks so much of General Washington and his doings +that he quite forgets to put in the love passages.”</p> + +<p>“And ’tis for those that a woman reads her letters,” said Mistress +Strudwick. “The ‘I love yous’ and ‘dears’ and ‘kisses’ scattered through +the pages mean more to her heart than the announcement of a victory. In +faith, old woman as I am, I always read the last sentence first, knowing +it will be the sweetest, if so the writer is in his senses.”</p> + +<p>“That is why I wanted so much to read Joscelyn’s letter. I knew Eustace +would never plot against his own town any more than she would, but an +ardent love-letter makes good reading, no matter to whom it may be +writ,” laughed Dorothy Graham, breaking a glowing rose from a nearby +bush, and holding it playfully against Betty’s cheek, looking archly at +her companions as she tapped first one and then the other with her +finger, whereupon the laugh again arose, for some had long ago guessed +at Eustace’s passion.</p> + +<p>Meantime, Joscelyn, drawing somewhat apart, took the strange letter from +her dress and broke the wafer. The missive covered but one scant <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>page, +but those who watched as she read saw her face grow pale and her lip +tremble.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Mistress Joscelyn Cheshire</span>, in Hillsboro’-town:</p> + +<p>Richard Clevering, with ten of his comrades, taken at Monmouth +field, lies in one of the prison-ships in Wallabout Bay. If he is +aught to you,—you know best whom <i>he</i> loves,—bestir yourself for +an exchange, for only that can save him from the sure death that +lurks in those accursed hulks. I, one of the guard that carried him +there, promised him that you should know, and at the risk of +discovery and punishment I thus keep my promise. He is brave and +generous. It were a pity to let him die.</p> + +<p class="right"><span style="margin-right: 2em;"><span class="smcap">James Colborn.</span></span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 6em;"><span class="smcap">New York</span>, this tenth day of July, 1778.</span></p></div> + +<p>Even in the far southern towns the infamy of those prison-ships had been +told, and with a sudden gesture of compassion the girl stretched her +arms toward the opposite house.</p> + +<p>“Aunt Clevering, poor Aunt Clevering!” and thrusting the letter into +Mistress Strudwick’s hands, she exclaimed: “Here read it—read it aloud, +then take it over yonder—I cannot.” And gathering Betty close in her +arms she listened while the letter was read to the sorrowing women.</p> + +<p>“Who are the others? Called he no names?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, mayhap one is my son!”</p> + +<p>“And another may be my husband!”</p> + +<p>“Even the Sugar House had been easier than this! Mark you what we have +heard of the ferocity of the jailers, the foulness of the food, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>the +loathsomeness of the ships! They will die, our brave lads will all die +there!”</p> + +<p>“Will die?—Nay, perchance they are already dead; ’tis a month since +this letter was writ, and two months since Monmouth fight.”</p> + +<p>And the letter went the rounds of the town, carrying sorrow everywhere +and a miserable dread and uncertainty into many homes, for all of the +men missing from Monmouth were not yet accounted for. Whose dear ones +were suffering with Richard, mine or thine, or our neighbour’s?</p> + +<p>All the afternoon, Joscelyn paced her floor, her brows knitted, her +fingers clenched. She knew best whom he loved? Yes, she knew. Every day +for the past year he had let her see his heart; even in their quarrels +over the war, he had not forgotten that he loved her. At first she had +taken it for a passing fancy, and had treated him with laughing +coquetry, fanning his love later on into the white flame of passion with +that groundless jealousy of Eustace. Then it was she realized what it +was with which she was playing.</p> + +<p>And now he was lying in that loathsome ship, with the fever on one side +and the harsh keepers on the other. Did she care as he wanted her to +care? No, but her anger against him for his persistent assumption of her +acquiescence in his suit was all forgotten; she remembered only the +happy side of their friendship, and that he was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>Betty’s brother. She +could not put aside the appeal in Colborn’s letter, for it was an appeal +from Richard himself; and yet what could she, a mere girl without aid or +influence, do to set him free? That was why her hands were clenched and +she paced her floor with quick steps. Then at last she sat down, and +opening her portfolio she wrote for half an hour, covering sheet after +sheet. When they were done she gathered them up quickly and ran +downstairs and crossed the street to the opposite house. There all was +sadness and tears because of Colborn’s news.</p> + +<p>“Here, Betty,” she said, placing the folded sheets upon the table; +“Eustace Singleton is on Lord Cornwallis’s staff and must have influence +with him, and through him, with General Clinton. I have written Eustace +to use all effort and despatch in Richard’s behalf, but you must add a +postscript to make the plea effective.”</p> + +<p>“And why, I pray you, should he heed a postscript from Betty?” asked her +mother, angrily, forgetful for a moment of her grief.</p> + +<p>“Because,” Joscelyn answered, facing her calmly, “he loves her, and the +few words she writes will outweigh all my pages.”</p> + +<p>“What! That Loyalist, the son of Joseph Singleton, our old enemy, in +love with my daughter? This is some mockery.”</p> + +<p>“It is the sober truth.”</p> + +<p>“I do not believe it; but if it be so, then will Richard and I have a +word to say in the matter. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>Betty, put down that quill; I will not have +you stoop to ask a favour of that family.”</p> + +<p>“Not even for Richard’s life and freedom, Aunt Clevering?”</p> + +<p>“I do not believe he has any influence. In love with my daughter—what +impudence!”</p> + +<p>“Rather what good fortune, since it may save your son.”</p> + +<p>“Mother, it seems our one chance; bid me write.” And Joscelyn joined in +the girl’s plea.</p> + +<p>The older woman’s features worked spasmodically, but presently she +nodded slowly. “For Richard’s sake, Joscelyn, yes; but mind you, Betty +will set him out in short order if ever he presumes to declare himself. +She knows her duty; no Singleton blood comes into my family.”</p> + +<p>She could not see Betty’s face, for Joscelyn stood between them; but two +weeks later Eustace kissed the blots where the tears had fallen just +under her pleading little postscript:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Because of all you said to me in Joscelyn’s parlour, because of +your red roses which I wore in the privacy of my room until they +faded, I beseech you, save my brother!”</p></div> + +<p>“But oh, Joscelyn, suppose he can do nothing?”</p> + +<p>“Then, dear, we must carry our plea to Lord Cornwallis. My father and he +were friends in England; perhaps we may gain his ear through that +old-time acquaintance.”</p> + +<p>“And how will you reach Cornwallis?” Mistress Clevering asked +doubtfully.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p><p>“If need be, Betty and I will seek him in General Clinton’s camp.”</p> + +<p>Betty put her cheek close to the girl’s. “Joscelyn, after all you are +not indifferent to Richard,” she whispered, half wistfully, half +joyously.</p> + +<p>But Joscelyn’s face was almost stern. “This letter from Colborn is in +truth a plea from Richard, since he must have bid the man write. Think +you I could let such a thing pass unanswered—and from your brother, +too?”</p> + +<p>“God bless you, Joscelyn, though your heart is as hard as flint.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>AN AWAKENING AND A MUTINY.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox3 bbox"><p>“I can bear scorpion’s stings, tread fields of fire,<br /> +In frozen gulfs of cold eternal lie;<br /> +Be tossed aloft through tracts of endless void—<br /> +But cannot live in shame.”</p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Joanna Baillie.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">B</span>esides the patrol and the ship’s long-boat only one other ever tied up +to the prison-vessels, and that one belonged to Dame Grant, the bumboat +woman, who brought such small luxuries as the prisoners were able to +purchase. She herself seldom came on board, but sent up her tiny parcels +by two boys who made their deliveries under the eye of the warden. This +was the woman Richard had hoped to bribe to aid his escape, but with +whom he had never found the smallest opportunity to speak at close +range. She was corpulent and coarse of feature, and the boys who served +her often felt the weight of her big hand; but Richard had once thrown +her a jest over the rail, and she had laughed good-naturedly, showing +that she had a soft side to her rough exterior. In the lining of his +ragged boot were the few coins Colborn had given him, but not so much as +a letter had he been able to bribe her to take. Often he cursed the +watchfulness of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>sentinel, longing to send at least some little +message to those who thought of him in far-off Hillsboro’-town.</p> + +<p>The morning of his awakening from the despairing stupor in which nearly +two months had been passed, it so chanced that Dame Grant brought in her +boat a basket of pears. Very luscious they looked, for sun and dew had +kissed them lavishly; but only the guards could pay their price, so the +prisoners feasted with their eyes only. By and by, however, one of the +sentinels who had purchased some of the fruit went to attend to some +duty below, and left one of the pears on the rail of the deck. So +transparent was his action and so subtle the temptation, that it almost +seemed he had set a delicate trap for some unwary captive. If, indeed, +it was a trap, it caught its prey; for one of the prisoners, a poor old +man, starving, yet too ill to eat the mouldy biscuit and rancid meat +that was their daily portion, saw the tempting fruit and stole it, +hoping the owner would think it had rolled off into the water with the +rocking of the ship. But nothing escaped the argus-eyed watch; one of +the other sentinels saw him as he ravenously devoured it, and collaring +the trembling culprit carried him to the warden. He acknowledged the +theft, excusing himself on the plea of extreme hunger, and begged for +mercy. He might as well have asked for the sun, whose rays whitened the +deck and shimmered on the restless waves.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p><p>“I will make an example of him that we may have no more thieving on this +ship. Order the prisoners out that they may see,” commanded the warden, +a big-thewed fellow with the face of a bulldog.</p> + +<p>The culprit, whose age alone should have protected him, was stripped to +the waist and dragged to the middle of the deck, where he stood weak, +scarred, emaciated,—as pitiful an object as the sun ever shone upon. In +a wide circle about him were crowded the unwilling prisoners, their +faces scowling with a helpless rage; and behind these were posted the +guards with levelled guns. While the warden knotted his lash, Peter and +Richard, after a whispered consultation with those nearest to them, +stepped forward and touched their caps.</p> + +<p>“If you please,” said Peter, acting as spokesman, “we will all of us +give something toward the price of the fruit, if you will spare this +man.”</p> + +<p>The warden wheeled suddenly upon them and struck out with his whip, +barely missing Peter’s head. “Back with you, an you want not the lash +upon your own backs, hounds that you are! The first man of you who stirs +again shall have his share of this pastime.” The ferocity of his look +and voice quelled any further attempt at conciliation, and the prisoners +turned their faces sullenly away.</p> + +<p>“So it’s delicacies your stomach craves, is it?” sneered the warden to +the trembling man before him. “Well, does that taste like pears—or +that—or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>that?” and the cruelly knotted lash swirled through the air, +and fell again and again upon the quivering flesh of the helpless +creature. The man staggered, screamed, reeled from place to place, and +finally fell. A harsh laugh answered his cries for mercy, and the lash +went on until the blood spurted from the livid welts upon his body, +while his groans were horrible to hear; and the prisoners groaned in +answer. But the warden’s fury was aroused, and the blows fell until +insensibility mercifully came, and the man lay still in a pool of his +own blood.</p> + +<p>“So shall it fare with every thief among you!” cried the warden, +throwing the whip down and facing around the scowling circle. But he saw +there no intimidation, but a wrath that needed but a touch to burst into +a storm, and he was quick to take the warning.</p> + +<p>“Dismiss the prisoners below,” he thundered to the guards, and went +swiftly to his own cabin.</p> + +<p>As Richard watched the cruel scene, something had stirred and then +suddenly snapped within him; the inert, despairing stupor was gone, and +in its place was a wild desire for action. Every nerve within him +quivered with a savage impulse to give the brutal warden blow for +blow—nay, two for one; that was what he wanted to do. His fingers +closed in a fierce grip, and only Peter’s firm hand held him in his +place.</p> + +<p>“The guards would riddle you with bullets before you could get to him,” +the latter whispered, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>under cover of that other terrible noise of the +flogging.</p> + +<p>“I have but once to die. Unhand me!”</p> + +<p>“Yes, but death here would be wasted. Wait.”</p> + +<p>From that hour Richard was a changed man; the dulness of despondency was +gone, and in its place there had come a recklessness, a demon of +desperation, that nothing could still.</p> + +<p>“I shall not stay quietly here to be flogged or to rot with the fever +and starvation,” he said to Peter, and his jaw was hard and square. “I +shall get away or I shall die in the attempt.”</p> + +<p>Two days later the flogged man was sewed into his blanket and carried +away in the funeral-boat; and the malcontent of the prisoners broke out +in angry mutterings. Here Richard, who had been brooding over a plan of +escape, believed he saw his chance. By night his plan was laid; and when +the hatches were beaten down and they lay in serried rows in the +stinking hold, he went from man to man and told his scheme. It was to be +a mutiny, a direct revolt. At a given signal they were to rise in a +body, fall upon the guards, over-power them—kill them—and then pulling +up the anchor they were to run the ship to the open sea, beach her +somewhere on the Jersey coast if she gave signs of leaking, and take +their chance to hide along the shore until they could get away into the +interior. Richard was to head them, for in his voice and manner the men +recognized the spirit of a leader. He longed with something <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>akin to +ferocity to strike the first blow at the warden.</p> + +<p>“And besides,” he said, “since I have proposed the plan it is but meet +that I should assume the first risk. If I fall, Peter will take my +place. Jack Bangs here has been on the sea all his life, and knows the +coast hereabouts as we know our farms at home. What say you to giving +him charge of the ship and letting him choose his own sailing crew?”</p> + +<p>“Good; he is the man for the place.”</p> + +<p>“Very well,” said Bangs; “but we cannot go down the Jersey coast, for we +would have to pass too many posts of the enemy, besides the guns in the +New York harbour. We must steer east through the sound, and if the ship +is beached, it must be on the Connecticut or Rhode Island coast.”</p> + +<p>“Very well; that is not so convenient, since it takes us far from our +army, but anywhere will be better than here.”</p> + +<p>They counted every risk: the difficulty of disarming the guards, the +proximity of the other two prison-ships, the interference of the shore +patrol in their swift-sailing boat, the disabled and sailless condition +of their own vessel; but nothing turned them from their purpose. Every +detail of the plot was arranged when toward morning the men lay down for +a little rest and sleep.</p> + +<p>All the morning Richard scrubbed or cleaned as the guards bade, and then +sat on deck with his eyes alternately upon the sun and the ship.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p><p>But toward the middle of the afternoon Richard noticed signs of +dissatisfaction among a few of the men near the stern, where there was +an improvised back-gammon board. They were evidently angry about +something. A quarrel at this spot was a daily occurrence, and occasioned +no surprise among the sentinels; but Richard guessed that some other +cause was at the bottom of this, and gradually made his way to Peter’s +side.</p> + +<p>“’Tis Henry Crane,” Peter whispered, and his close-shut fists showed an +emotion his face concealed. “He is jealous that the ship was given to +Bangs rather than to him, and he and some of his fellows—his old +crew—are threatening mischief.”</p> + +<p>“Fool, to risk his neck and liberty for a damnable vanity!” Rising, +Richard crossed to the group of players, and sinking down upon the deck +gathered the dice into his hand as though to take part in the sport.</p> + +<p>“I play to win; and the man who fouls my game—for any cause +whatsoever—has me to answer to,” he said with stern emphasis, his +fearless eyes fixed steadily on Crane’s face. The man flushed and began +to mumble an answer, but the guard, passing, said sharply:—</p> + +<p>“Since you cannot play without a row, break up the game.”</p> + +<p>The players got up slowly. “You understand?” Richard said under his +breath, and Crane nodded surlily.</p> + +<p>The afternoon wore on and all remained quiet. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>Crane had evidently +thought better of his foolish jealously. It was growing late, and there +was going to be a high wind, and that was well, for it would set the +tide yet stronger in its outward sweep, and their flight would be all +the swifter.</p> + +<p>It lacked only a little while before the drum-tap. Richard got up and +stood with his face to the glowing west to take his last farewell of the +dream-girl with whom he kept his tryst each evening at this hour.</p> + +<p>“Good-by, sweetheart,” he said in his inner consciousness. “I love you. +On your dear eyes I kiss you—so—”</p> + +<p>“Attention! First division carry down their bedding!”</p> + +<p>He wheeled; for he was in that first division. A quick glance about the +deck showed everything quiet as usual. Crane and a few others stood at +the far end of the deck awaiting their order to go down with the rest of +the bedding. This would take only ten minutes, then the drum-tap for the +roll-call and—death or liberty.</p> + +<p><a name="illo3" id="illo3"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 333px;"> +<img src="images/i158.jpg" class="ispace" width="333" height="500" alt="“... THE PRISONERS LINED UP AND ANSWERED TO THEIR +NAMES.”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“... THE PRISONERS LINED UP AND ANSWERED TO THEIR +NAMES.”</span> +</div> + +<p>Swiftly the first division seized their allotment of the bedding and +passed below. Knowing what was to follow, they did not lose a moment; +but, quick as they were, something happened up above. There was a sound +as of a struggle, a fierce cry, the report of a musket, all so close +together as to seem almost blended into one sound; and then the ship +writhed and quivered with the reverberation of the cannon on the upper +end of the deck. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>Richard sprang to the ladder, but thrust only his head above deck when +an order to halt, accompanied by a touch of steel to his temple, brought +him up with a pull. But a look showed him what had happened. Crane and +three others lay motionless upon the deck, and the other two men who had +stood with them were covered by the muskets of the guards, while the +warden leaned against the cannon ready to sweep the deck with another +shot should so much as a hand be lifted without his orders. He was +absolute master of the situation. A signal was run up to the patrol +boat, the two mutineers were bound and hurried away; then the drum +tapped for roll-call. But no one made any show of revolt. With the +guards aroused, the patrol alarmed, and that murderous cannon ready to +rake the deck, it had been the act of madmen to resist; so, scowlingly +and surlily the prisoners lined up and answered to their names, and then +marched below, their plans all gone wrong. Richard threw himself down +and sobbed like a child. The plot had failed through the malice of one +man. Crane, thinking everything was ready, and that the men would all +respond to the signal, gave it while Richard was below, thinking thus to +snatch the leadership and gain control of the whole vessel. But the +other men, watching only for Richard’s signal, did not comprehend or +respond to this unexpected whistle, only the five who stood immediately +with Crane falling in with his plan. But even they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>were not quick +enough, for the sentinel upon whom they leaped had time to cry out the +alarm and discharge his gun, while the warden sprang to the ever-ready +cannon.</p> + +<p>Although the prisoners felt the warden’s anger in many petty ways, no +other arrests were made; for the two captives took their punishment +heroically and told no tales, and inquiry of course failed to elicit any +information from the rest of the prisoners.</p> + +<p>“I cannot stay here—I will not!” Richard cried vehemently to Peter. “I +am going, and soon at that.”</p> + +<p>“What is it you propose to do?”</p> + +<p>“I do not yet know, but I am going, or they shall kill me with a +rifle-ball instead of by slow starvation,” he said doggedly.</p> + +<p>Then one night a month later, as they lay gasping for air in the black +hold, he unfolded a plan that made Peter’s heart sick with dread and +uncertainty.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>INTO THE JAWS OF DEATH.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox2 bbox"><p>“Let terror strike slaves mute;<br /> +Much danger makes great hearts most resolute.”</p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Marston.</span></p> + +<p>“Death, when unmasked, shows us a friendly face.”</p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Goldsmith.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p style="float: left; font-size: 100%; line-height: 80%; margin-top: 9px;">“</p><p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">R</span>ebels, turn out your dead!”</p> + +<p>The inhuman call came down the opened hatches, and the prisoners, stupid +with the foul air they had breathed all night, prepared to obey. So many +times they had heard the cry that they had grown callous to its coarse +brutality.</p> + +<p>It was the end of September, and the delayed equinoctial storm would +soon ravage the coast. For a week the sea-faring folk had been expecting +it; and now at last the great gale or the forerunner of it was upon +them, for all night the waves had been rolling in from the outside with +the sound of thunder. The ship had pitched and tossed and strained at +its moorings, while the living freight in its hold prayed that it might +break away entirely. The hatches, when lifted, showed no blue sky, but +gray clouds and scurrying mist wreaths. The men, coming up out of the +hot and fetid air, shivered a little in the stiff breeze <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>on the deck, +then opening their mouths, drank it in like wine. The faces of the +landsmen had an added ghastliness from seasickness, but they were all +bad enough to look upon,—seamen and soldiers alike. In squads of six +they took their breakfast, eating by sheer force of resolution what they +loathed, that the hunger pains might not gnaw so hard.</p> + +<p>“How many dead this morning?” demanded the warden.</p> + +<p>“Two,—Drake and Cowles,” answered Jack Bangs.</p> + +<p>“Nay, there are three, Master Warden,” said Peter Ruffin, sadly; “I +found Richard Clevering lying stiff and stark beside me when I got up. +The bodies are there beside the capstan.”</p> + +<p>The three were stretched upon the deck; the corner of Richard’s blanket, +as if by accident, fell over the upper part of his face, but the mouth +below was blue and drawn. With an exclamation of surprise and sorrow +Jack Bangs crossed the deck and, lifting the blanket for a moment, +looked at the face beneath. Then, reverently replacing it, he made the +sign of the cross above the body, and speaking a few low words to Peter, +went away. The warden, who had watched the scene satirically, gave each +corpse a shove with his foot, cursing the while.</p> + +<p>“D—n ’em! had to die the worst day of the month, that the burial might +be the more troublesome!” He glanced at them again, gave each <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>another +kick, and checked off their names in his book. “Here, fix these hounds +up, and cut your work short so they’ll be in the ground before the storm +breaks.”</p> + +<p>“If you please, may I go in the boat this morning? Clevering was from my +town, and I should like to pay him this last respect.”</p> + +<p>“No.”</p> + +<p>Peter knew better than to urge his plea, and so stepped quietly aside. +But the warden, noticing the slow motions of one of the men to whom he +had beckoned, shouted angrily, “Out of the way there, you infernal +snail, or I’ll fix you so you’ll go in the boat and stay!”</p> + +<p>Peter sprang into the man’s place. “I will be very quick,” he said, +touching his cap; and without another word wrapped one of the bodies +quickly in its coarse covering and took a few stitches with the needle +his comrade held out. He was so deft, and the lightning was so vivid, +that the warden grunted and let him go on. Under other circumstances he +would have been put in irons for insubordination.</p> + +<p>The stitches in Richard’s blanket were few and slight, just enough to +hold it about the body.</p> + +<p>“What was the matter with that fellow? I never heard him say he was +sick,” said one of the sentinels, stopping to look on.</p> + +<p>Peter’s pulse stood still. “He has complained for some time of a pain +about the heart. All last night he tossed and rolled, and just before +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>hatches were opened, he said to me that his time had come. He’s +hardly cold yet,” he added hastily, as the man bent as though to touch a +hand left exposed by a rent in the blanket.</p> + +<p>“Well, he’ll have time enough to get cold in the ground,” the warden +said, coming up behind, and mistaking Peter’s words for a plea for more +time before the burial.</p> + +<p>“He was a sullen chap to whom I’ve been looking for trouble. I’ll +warrant he gets not cold between this and the devil,” the guard said, +giving the stiff body a parting kick.</p> + +<p>The waves tossed furiously, but the long-boat was launched, and two of +the guard took their places in it, while the man who was to assist Peter +at the graves followed to receive the bodies; for the sentinels never +touched them, partly through fear of contagion, and partly out of +contempt. The first two were finally lowered, and then came the moment +Peter had dreaded; those other two had been stiff and stark enough, but +he wanted no prying eyes looking on when he lifted this one, and so +before he bent over to Richard, he glanced down the deck and raised his +hand, quite casually, it seemed, to his face. Instantly, as though he +had been on the watch for a signal, Jack Bangs started a funeral hymn, +loud and wailing.</p> + +<p>“Stop that devilish howling!” roared the warden, wheeling around.</p> + +<p>Quick as a flash Peter, signing to his assistant, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>lifted the prostrate +figure at his feet and swung it over the side. The ropes grated on the +rail, and when the warden looked again, it was all over. Peter slid +instantly down one of the ropes, and he and his fellow grave-digger +untied the cords from the body and rolled it over beside the other two +in the bottom of the boat, the guards having their hands full to keep +the little craft from swamping in the waves. Then they cast off and +pulled for the shore.</p> + +<p>“What makes you look at that carrion so confoundedly straight and +scared,” one of the soldiers asked Peter, sharply, noticing how often +his eyes went to the figure at his feet.</p> + +<p>Peter cursed himself inwardly, but he had been so afraid that the +blanket would rise and fall with a strong man’s involuntary breathing +that he had watched it in a sort of fascination. Now he looked away, +answering slowly:—</p> + +<p>“I have known him since he was a baby; he used to play with my little +boy that died, and so I keep thinking of those days.”</p> + +<p>One of the men laughed scoutingly, but the other growled out, “Let the +fool have his fling, and give me a light, Carson; my pipe’s gone out in +this cursed spray.” And while their heads were close together, Peter +stretched his legs out over the body, that if so it lost for a moment +its rigidity, they might not see.</p> + +<p>It seemed to him an hour before the shore was reached and the landing +effected; then he and his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>assistant carried the bodies high up on the +sand. Richard’s went first.</p> + +<p>“He is alive,” Peter whispered, as they moved up the beach, “but if you +give the faintest hint of it here or on shipboard by word, act, or look, +I’ll throttle you like a viper.”</p> + +<p>“You need not threaten—I’m no peacher; and besides, I liked the lad, +and wish him well; but his chance is slim, and if he is taken, they will +torture him like the incarnate fiends.”</p> + +<p>An officer from the patrol, strolling near the boat, called out:—</p> + +<p>“How many to-day, Carson?”</p> + +<p>“Three.”</p> + +<p>“That is an unusual haul; you are thinning them out fast.”</p> + +<p>“Not half fast enough; looks as if the cursed dogs held on to life to +spite us.”</p> + +<p>“Well, ’tis said that Howe will bring back plenty of recruits from the +French fleet to fill your gaps.”</p> + +<p>“How is that? What is the news?”</p> + +<p>But Peter was listening eagerly, hoping to catch some bit of outside +information. The officer pointed to him with elevated eyebrows, and the +guard drove him with imprecations to his task.</p> + +<p>“Your shovel?—Well, there it is, you son of perdition! Go on, and mind +you be quick in hiding that carrion from the crows.”</p> + +<p>Beside the boat, with guns cocked and ready, the three men then talked +over the war tidings, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>while thirty yards up the beach the two +grave-diggers fell to their task. Rapidly the two first graves were made +and the occupants laid therein with only a muttered prayer from Peter; +and so were closed two human chapters in the varying story of life. The +wind shrieked in from the sea, edged with foam or stinging sand caught +up at the water’s edge, and the heavens were like a vast slaty canopy +torn now and then by jagged lightning flashes. The scene was a fit +setting for the mournful work in hand. Once or twice while the two +laboured, one of the guards walked over to look at them, and then +wandered back to the boat and his companions.</p> + +<p>Over the first two graves the sand was heaped high, forming, as far as +possible, a barrier for the third. Shallow that third grave was,—so +shallow that a man could scarce lie therein and be concealed; but so it +must be that the sand might not be too heavy on the body, and yet seem +to be piled up. Tenderly Peter lifted that last silent figure and +stretched it in the hollow made for it; then, while he still stooped, he +broke the frail stitches of the blanket, and snatching two pieces of +driftwood he put them crosswise over the head of the grave with their +ends on the edges. The hollow space below might contain enough air to +last a man a little while.</p> + +<p>“Stay, here is piece of hollow cane in the sand,” said the assistant, +“keep one end of it over your mouth, Richard; we will leave the other +just out <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>of the sand; in this way you can breathe longer.—So.”</p> + +<p>“Quick, quick; the shovels! The guard is returning,” cried Peter.</p> + +<p>It seemed to them that their shovels crawled, and yet they worked like +mad. If the guard got there before they finished, all was lost. Spadeful +after spadeful,—was ever a man so hard to cover? Another step and the +sentinel would be upon them, and the blanket scarcely hidden, and those +tell-tale boards and the cane yet in sight. It was a fearful moment. +Peter’s heart stood still, and his comrade’s hands were like ice.</p> + +<p>“What the devil are you so long about?”</p> + +<p>But it was only the angry voice that reached them; a blinding lightning +flash ripped the heavens wide open, and the wind with a demoniacal +shriek rushed down the beach, throwing the sand in a swirling cloud +about the on-coming man, making him stagger with its force and snatching +away his hat and rain coat. Half blinded, he raced down the sloping +stretch to regain his garments which more than once eluded him. Then in +the lull he came back swearing furiously; and finding the men leaning on +their shovels, he stuck his bayonet into each of the three mounds. Into +the third it penetrated only a little way; but he did not notice, for +the wind was again gathering itself for a fresh burst of fury.</p> + +<p>“Now then, get you to the boats!” he cried, standing behind them.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p><p>Peter paused a moment and crossed himself reverently, saying in a loud +voice, “Your bodies to the earth, your souls to God’s care; and may you +pass to liberty in the folds of the in-rolling fog.”</p> + +<p>“Pass to hell and the devil! Get on, I say!” cried the guard, angrily, +as he struck Peter across the shoulders with his bayonet. And Peter, +having said his say, ran nimbly to the boat; and pushing it off, they +leaped in, and were soon toiling amid the breakers to reach the ship’s +side.</p> + +<p>It seemed to Richard that long months passed while he lay motionless +under that weight of sand, breathing spasmodically through the bit of +reed. The drift-boards kept the pressure partially from his chest so +that he suffered very little. The guard’s bayonet had grazed his leg +without piercing it, but the thirst in his throat was something +terrible. Peter’s voice had penetrated through the boards and their thin +covering of sand, so that he knew the fog was following the wind from +the sea. It was for this he had hoped, and it was this Peter meant to +tell him in those last words. Dear old Peter; how he had tried to +dissuade him from this mad plan, and when that was impossible, how he +had risked his own safety to aid him. Richard felt the tears on his face +as he recalled his friend’s unselfish offices. Several times during the +wait for a stormy day he had been on the point of giving up the whole +plan, lest it work a mischief for Peter; but the latter had said it +would mean only a day in irons for him, and that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>he was willing to risk +that much for his friend’s liberty; it was for Richard himself that he +feared. But even death had a smiling face for Richard, compared to a +winter spent in the vile ship; and so the plan had gone on, and by +Peter’s care he was lying here in his grave, accounted of the world as +dead.</p> + +<p>By and by his limbs began to cramp and ache. Through strong will power +he had kept them rigid during those terrible moments of examination and +removal from the ship. He would not have dared assay the plan had he not +known how superficial, through repetition, had become the warden’s +inspection of the corpses—just a few questions and that savage kick. +Each time there had been a death during the past fortnight, he had +studied the details of the preparation and burial, until he was +convinced that he could carry his scheme to a successful close if only +Peter was allowed to be one of his sextons.</p> + +<p>As the minutes now passed, the ache in his limbs increased, for the +pressure of the sand was stopping the circulation. Then the dryness in +his throat grew and grew, until he could bear it no longer. Had he lain +there a year, or only a day? Slowly and cautiously he drew his hands up +to his breast, then higher, and finally placed the palms against the +board over his head. The first movement brought the sand in a shower +upon his shoulders; but after a while he worked it far enough back to +leave a crack between it and its fellow. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>This he could only feel, for +knowing the sand would strangle and blind him, he had not as yet taken +the blanket from his face, since moving it ever so little to receive the +reed into his mouth. Next, he slowly pushed the other board downward +until a rush of cold air told him he was once more in the world of +humanity, not forever sealed in the haunt of ghouls. Cautiously he +shoved the blanket from his face and looked up into the storm-hung +heavens. It was mid-afternoon, and he had thought it must be midnight. +Eagerly he drew in the air, cool and laden with moisture, and tried to +forget his aching limbs. He dared not stir yet lest the patrol should +see him. He must wait; and while he waited, how the moments lagged!</p> + +<p>The wind had fallen, but the waves still thundered on the shore, and the +lightning now and then raced along the clouds. Afraid to raise his head, +he could only lie still and stare straight above him into the square of +mist and clouds. With a great throb of joy he watched the gloom deepen. +He had not heard the sunset gun from the station down the beach, but the +fog would befriend him; so when he could no longer bear the straitened +position, he lifted his head and shoulders and looked around. The fog +was everywhere; scarcely could he see the tumultuous waves that +shattered themselves along the sand. He need wait no longer, no one +could see him now; and painfully and carefully he finally drew his +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>stiff limbs from under the sand. To stand at full length was not to be +thought of, but he rolled over and rubbed and stretched himself until +the cramp was relieved. Then he set himself to fill in and round up his +vacated grave; for Peter’s sake he must do this, that no suspicion might +be aroused when the funeral boat brought its next cargo ashore. Swiftly +he worked, using a piece of the drift-board for a shovel, and crawling +from head to foot to be sure that all was right. His heart was full of +gratitude when at last it was finished, and, with a sigh of relief, he +threw the board aside and stood up straight,—a free man.</p> + +<p>But at this moment something came out of the fog from the shore side, +and as he steadied himself upon his feet, he found himself face to face +with a man.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>OUT OF THE SHADOW AND INTO THE SUN.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox8 bbox"><p>“O God, it is a fearful thing<br /> +To see the human soul take wing<br /> +In any shape, in any mood.”</p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Byron.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">F</span>or one awful minute neither man moved; then the patrol, with the horror +in his face as of one who looks upon a thing of another world, gave a +hoarse scream which was swallowed up in the roar of the sea. Richard did +not know what an uncanny sight he made rising up from that grave with +his hair unkempt, his face like ashes, and a burial cloth still bound +about his jaws. He comprehended only that detection threatened, and +detection meant death. With one bound he cleared the grave between them, +and grappled with the guard. Under other circumstances he would have +been no match for the man, starved and weak as he was; but +desperation—that fierce, mad desire to live—gave him strength. It was +not so much he as that aroused demon within him that gave back the +patrol’s blows, struck the gun from his hands, and finally gripped him +about the throat. Not a word was said, not a cry was uttered, as they +tossed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>and swayed backward and forward, to the right or left, sank on +one knee and rose again to stagger and struggle anew. If Richard could +keep that strangling hold, the fight was his, and with it the liberty +for which he longed; if the other man could break it, then life would +pay the forfeit. Doggedly he hung on, though his fingers strained and +his head reeled, while the other beat him about the body and shoulders +with blows that began to lose their force, for that iron grip upon his +windpipe was telling at last. Richard was literally choking the life out +of him. Backward he went—backward—until the muscles in his chest +swelled, and the joints of his back and shoulders cracked—still +backward, with everything dark before him. Then suddenly his knees +collapsed, and he went down to the sand in a shapeless huddle. But even +then Richard did not let go his hold; deeper, and yet deeper his fingers +sank into the flesh under them, until not a quiver was left in the +insensible limbs. Then finally he stood up and looked upon his work.</p> + +<p>God! he had committed murder.</p> + +<p><a name="illo4" id="illo4"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 323px;"> +<img src="images/i175.jpg" class="ispace" width="323" height="500" alt="“FOR A LONG MINUTE HE STOOD THERE, TREMBLING, +HORROR-STRICKEN.“" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“FOR A LONG MINUTE HE STOOD THERE, TREMBLING, +HORROR-STRICKEN.”</span> +</div> + +<p>For a long minute he stood there, trembling, horror-stricken; then the +self within him cried out, and he roused up to thought and action. That +dead body would tell its own disastrous tale when the relief watch came; +should he bury it here in his own grave? Yes, that cheated sepulchre +should have its inmate; and he reached for the board. But no; there +would not be time; it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>would take hours to hide it, trembling and weak as he was, something +else must be done, something quick. Should he run for the dunes and +leave it where it lay? If found thus, search would be made for the +slayer; he would be setting the watch upon his own track. He pressed his +hands helplessly to his temples, staring meanwhile upon the horror there +at his feet. Then suddenly the explanation came: the man’s beat ended on +a rock that dropped sharply into the water; he knew, for he had noticed +when he came ashore before with the funeral boat. If he could throw the +body down there, it would be thought the man had walked off in the fog +and gloom; no suspicion would be aroused, and he would be free from +pursuit.</p> + +<p>Shivering at the contact, he seized the body and dragged it along over +the shells and pebbles. Once or twice he lost his bearings in the short +journey, but a rising wind blew out trailing lengths of fog before him +and, aided thus, in a little while he reached his goal. But he could not +see the body enter the water; it would be like a second murder, and so +with eyes close shut he pushed it off and groaned in his soul to hear +the splash that came from below.</p> + +<p>“God bear witness that I did not want his blood upon my hands!”</p> + +<p>Then he looked away to the dunes and took one step toward them. But the +gun—it lay yonder by the graves; he might as well have left <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>the body +itself there. Hastily he returned, smoothed over the sand where the +struggle had fallen, and seizing the man’s gun and hat, he sped again to +the rock, placing them near the ledge, that they might seem to have been +dropped there in an attempt at self-preservation. Then he was free to +go. Into the fog he plunged, making for where the sand-dunes rose; and +as he tottered down into the underbrush beyond, he heard the sunset gun +from the station boom out through the mist. He had lived a whole +lifetime in the last half hour.</p> + +<p>It had been his plan to cross the island and seek some means of escaping +to the Jersey coast from the south-side villages, but the fog hid +everything, and he seemed walking in a circle. He was weak from +excitement and lack of food, and after stumbling blindly onward for a +while, he turned to the left and kept on a parallel with the coast, the +boom of the surf being his guide; but always he kept the sound far +enough away to avoid the sentinels from the patrol. The fog had turned +into a rain, cold and depressing, and so after walking an hour or two he +was willing to risk something of danger for food and rest. He had passed +several houses but had kept aloof through fear; now, however, he bent +his steps to a tiny light burning ahead.</p> + +<p>It was a fisherman’s cottage close to an inlet that jutted in from the +bay, and as good fortune would have it the old man, detained by the +storm, was just getting home. Even in the little harbour <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>the swell was +unusually strong, and the man was having much difficulty in beaching his +boat, so that Richard’s aid was most timely.</p> + +<p>“Who are you, my friend?” the fisherman asked, when everything was snug +and taut.</p> + +<p>“A traveller who has lost his way.”</p> + +<p>The old fellow squinted his eyes for a closer look. “A traveller? Well, +’tis enough; we never ask names, my old woman and I, for in such days as +these a man’s name is ofttimes his most secret possession. We know not +the rights of this war, and so we take no sides, but pray that justice +may conquer. Now, how can I pay you for your help?”</p> + +<p>“By giving me food and shelter.”</p> + +<p>“That will I, for without you I should have lost my whole day’s take and +that had been a terrible mishap. Fry an extra fish, mother,” he called +into the cottage.</p> + +<p>“Ay, two of them, good mother. I pray you; for I am as a ravening wolf +seeking what I may devour,” Richard said, putting his head in at the +door; and his voice was so bonny that the old woman filled the skillet +with a lavish hand. And in that firelit hut he ate the first palatable +meal he had had since Monmouth day. Then he set himself artfully to +persuade the fisherman to take him down the Sound in his boat.</p> + +<p>“Nay, I never go now, the journey is too much for me; and besides I must +go to-morrow to the camp to sell my fish. But the soldiers go and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>come +between here and New York every day; if you will come with me to the +camp, I will get you company.”</p> + +<p>But Richard evaded the invitation. After a while the old woman said: +“There is Dame Grant who lives just over the inlet, she goes down the +Sound day after to-morrow to see her people,—she hath recently heard +that her niece hath a new baby (a fine girl weighing ten pounds in its +skin and to be named for the dame), mayhap you could find passage with +her.”</p> + +<p>But again Richard shook his head, shuddering inwardly at the thought +that the old woman might recognize him and be tempted by the standing +reward for escaped prisoners to give him again into captivity. He would +find some other way, he said, and talked of the fishing in the Sound. +When the old man’s pipe was smoked out they went to bed, and in spite of +that haunting scene beside the wind-swept graves, Richard slept +profoundly through the night hours. Waking before the old couple in the +gray morning, he crept down from the loft, and raking together the coals +upon the hearth, he breakfasted on the remains of last night’s supper, +then stole out into the wet and sombre world.</p> + +<p>How sweet it was to breathe the early air and feel the earth beneath his +feet, and have the weeds and underbrush rap him about the knees as he +pushed away to the interior! The fisherman’s hut was a league behind him +when he saw the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>east redden with the rising sun, for the besom of the +storm had swept the heavens clear. What a wonderful light threaded the +woods and glorified the tree-tops, sparkling and changing with every +motion of the boughs! Often he had seen it among his native Carolina +hills, this opaline opening of the morn, but never before with such a +thrill of appreciation, such a rush of exquisite joy.</p> + +<p>“Good morning, Joscelyn; I am a free man to-day.” And he bowed as though +he had been in a ball-room, and picking a bit of blossom that nodded at +him, he stuck it jauntily in his ragged coat.</p> + +<p>If it had not been for that dead face playing hide-and-seek always among +the bushes about him, he could have whistled as he walked. Now and then +he sighted houses and cultivated fields, but he kept to the woods; not +until he reached the sea on the other side of the island would he +venture to show his face at a door. There were wild grapes in the +thickets and sweet beach mass to eat; and a little past noon he found a +late melon in the weeds of a fence corner, and feasted like a lord.</p> + +<p>But half a mile farther on, his pleasure was forgotten in a keen +excitement, for from a slight eminence, he saw the plain stretching to +the right and left white with the tents of soldiery; and not ten paces +from him a sentinel, with his back this way, sat on a fallen tree and +read a letter. A few <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>more steps, and he would have been in the hornets’ +nest,—a helpless captive. Instantly he dropped upon his knees, and +crawled into the brush as stealthily as a creature of the jungle. He had +evidently come too far west in his flight, for this was a part of +Clinton’s army, quartered here within easy reach of New York. Far away +to either side the tents reached, dotting the whole expanse of country. +To turn either wing looked like an impossibility; it would take him days +to skirt those picket posts to the east; and on the west, he knew from +what the fisherman had said that they must reach even to the hamlet +whence the boats went daily to New York. To take that route meant a sure +and swift destruction, since he would be thrusting himself into the very +toils he longed to avoid. His one chance seemed to be a retreat the way +he came, and then to beat his way to the northeast along the coast of +the Sound, and get over to the Connecticut side on some fishing-boat. He +would be weeks—perhaps months—longer in reaching Washington or home, +but better that a thousand times than certain capture. He reasoned it +all out carefully, lying under the thicket, and then lingered a few +minutes to envy the unconscious sentinel his letter, for of course it +was from home. How long it had been since he had heard aught of his +loved ones—three weary months!</p> + +<p>Downcast and disheartened, he returned along his own trail, and in the +early twilight heard the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>boom of the surf ahead of him. But he had +missed his way somewhat, and came out of the brush on the side of the +inlet across from the fisherman’s hut. He found he would have to walk an +extra mile or two to get back to that shelter for the night. He sighed +and turned, but just at that moment there flashed upon his sight a light +from a window some fifty yards down the inlet, and on the same side with +himself.</p> + +<p>Stay; this was Dame Grant’s hut, and she went to-morrow to the Jersey +shore to visit her kin.</p> + +<p>He did not go back around the head of the cove, but turned instead into +the field before this other hut, whose friendly light was winking at him +through the dusk. His resolution was taken, for good or ill.</p> + +<p>Evidently the dame had company, for there was the sound of voices and +laughter on the water front of the little house; and Richard stood still +with a tingling sense of pleasure,—it had been so long since he had +heard people laugh joyously and heartily, that the sound came like the +echo of something loved but almost forgotten. Between a hayrick and the +fence he finally lay down to wait; and while he waited he slept, for +when he awoke the hut was silent, although the light still burned at the +window. The chill of autumn was in the air, and he shivered as he +crossed the enclosure and stood looking into the lighted room. It was a +pleasant scene: the two boys slept upon a wooden bench, but the dame sat +by the table, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>busy with a piece of bright-hued patchwork, and Richard +took heart of grace that she smiled as she sewed. From his ragged +boot-leg he had taken Colborn’s gold piece, and now he used it to tap +lightly on the small, diamond-shaped pane. The dame looked up in +surprise to see a hatless man at her window; but he smiled cheerily and +beckoned, holding the gold piece against the glass that she might see +it. For a moment she looked at him frowningly, then the glitter of the +gold won her, and she got up and opened the door.</p> + +<p>“What want you at this hour of the night at an honest woman’s house?”</p> + +<p>“I want an honest conversation with an honest woman, therefore came I to +your door, knowing where to find both. In all true faith and respect I +am here; so come, good mother, ask me in. Without your bidding I will +not enter, for I would not wilfully intrude upon the privacy of a lady.” +He bowed low, clicking his heels as neatly as though he were her partner +in a minuet.</p> + +<p>“Go along with your fine ways,” she said, but she laughed.</p> + +<p>“No ways can be too fine for a lady.” And he took her hand and kissed it +with the air of a prince, clicking his heels again in that military +salute.</p> + +<p>“You young impudence! leave go my hand—you’ll find it heavy enough on +your ear presently. I’ll warrant you have it in mind to fleece me out of +something, so say your say and be done with it,” but there was no real +anger in her voice.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p><p>“Nay, I am no highwayman nor money beggar; for that which you do for me +I will pay you well,” he answered, again holding up the gold piece. “But +would you not be more comfortable sitting?” He waved his hand toward the +chair she had quitted, and the fine courtesy of his tone again called +forth her laugh; but she took the hint and, turning, bade him enter.</p> + +<p>“Well, where do we begin?” she said, when they were seated.</p> + +<p>“My mother always begins by asking a stranger to have something to +eat—and you have bonny blue eyes like hers,” he answered, with boyish +audacity, pushing back her loose sleeve and patting the fat arm.</p> + +<p>“’Tis a good place to start,” she answered, shoving him off; and would +have called the boys to serve him, but he held her back.</p> + +<p>“I wish no one but you to hear what I have to say. You may trust me—I +swear it.” So she opened the cupboard herself and brought out plenty of +cold food. Richard ate ravenously, praising everything (for in truth it +had a heavenly taste), and telling her how blue her eyes were, and how +pretty her patchwork—just like what his own mother used to make.</p> + +<p>“A bit of a quilt for a bairn just born,” she said, and smoothed it with +her great hands.</p> + +<p>And Richard asked the child’s name, and said it had a sweet sound, and +hoped it would have blue eyes with a twinkle in them like her own. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>And +while he ate and talked she watched him narrowly. He knew it, but he did +not care. Presently she said, as one asserting a fact:—</p> + +<p>“You are from one of the prison-ships.”</p> + +<p>He nodded, smiling; and his frankness evidently pleased her, for she +nodded back. “That’s right; no use to lie about it. I knew I had seen +your face somewhere. How did you get away?”</p> + +<p>“That is the one thing I cannot tell you, good mother, for it would +implicate the man who helped me, and not even for your favour—though +God knows I want it bad enough—will I betray my friend.”</p> + +<p>“Right again; hold fast to the man who holds to you; I like to see folk +grateful.”</p> + +<p>Then he told her how he wanted to go in her boat to the Jersey shore, +and how it was he happened to know her plans. But she shook her head; +the risk was too great.</p> + +<p>“There will be no risk at all. You are so well known to the soldiers at +the different posts that you will never be questioned. It would be but +natural for you to take some one stronger than your boys to help you in +making so long a voyage. Find me but a coat and hat, and no one will +give me a thought, for I know how to hold my tongue when occasion +calls.”</p> + +<p>But still she refused. Her passport called but for three, and she was +not going to run her head into a noose for all his fine speeches and +petting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>ways—for he had squeezed her hand and patted her gray hair +while he talked.</p> + +<p>He would not listen to her refusal; if she did not take him, he was +lost. And he got hold of her other hand, and in pathetic words described +to her the agony he had suffered on the vessel; and then he dropped his +head on the table and almost sobbed as he told her of Joscelyn and his +yearning to see her.</p> + +<p>“Oho, a sweetheart, is it?” asked the old woman, with aroused interest.</p> + +<p>“Yes, as bonny a girl as you ever set eyes upon. And think you, good +dame, of your own young days, of the time when the lads were at your +beck and call,—for I warrant me those blue eyes broke many +hearts,—would you not have been grateful if your lover had been in +peril and some one had saved him for you?”</p> + +<p>The dame chuckled. “Ay, ay, I had my fling with the lads, I did.”</p> + +<p>“It goes without the saying. And there was one among them whom you +loved?” The brown face grew suddenly very tender as with the shadow of a +memory. “Then for the sake of him save Joscelyn’s sweetheart for her.”</p> + +<p>But still she shook her head, and for a minute Richard was in despair. +Then he began all over again, adding the gold piece to his argument. +Thus for half an hour the plea went on, and just as he felt that he had +failed, she suddenly nodded her head decisively, that softened light +again shining in her face.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p><p>“One of the boys shall bide at home, and you may go in his stead, since +you are so set on it; but mind, you help with the boat, and I have the +gold.”</p> + +<p>“That and Joscelyn’s love shall be yours, you dear, bonny dame!” he +cried rapturously, seizing her about the shoulders and kissing her +heartily on either red cheek.</p> + +<p>“Get out! Of all the lads I ever saw, you have the freest manners.” But +the shove she gave him had in it no roughness. He had set her to +thinking of her own youth and of a lad who had gone to sea one morning, +kissing his hand to her, but had never come home again, though she had +waited for him for many a day through shine of sun and wail of storm. +Through all her life a woman’s first love is a touchstone to her +sympathy, an open sesame to her tenderness; neither as maid, nor yet as +wife, does she ever quite forget that first sweet spell upon her heart. +Dame Grant scarcely saw the man beside her, but for sake of that other +lad, whom nobody had been able to help far back in the years that were +dead, she would save this other girl’s lover.</p> + +<p>In an hour their preparations were made. From the loft of her hut the +dame brought down a leather jerkin and a battered hat, and after her +scissors had gone over Richard’s head, he was metamorphosed so that even +she herself would scarcely have recognized him.</p> + +<p>“You’d be a fine figure of a man if those <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>wretches on the ship had not +starved the shape out of you.”</p> + +<p>“My mother always said that in the way of beauty Providence had done +more for my legs than for my face,” Richard laughed.</p> + +<p>“Well, the warden hath undone the job, for thy breeches hang like a +scarecrow’s. Now up into the loft with you, and find some straw whereon +to sleep. ’Tis close upon midnight, and we start with the sun.”</p> + +<p>But Richard was too full of joy and excitement to sleep much, and so +when the dame and her boys came out the next morning, they found him +sitting beside the boat, pulling on his boots after a plunge into the +cold salt water. The feeling in his breast was indescribable when at +last, after many injunctions to the boy who was left, they drew out of +the cove into the open bay, in the pearl and purple morning, and he knew +his journey was begun.</p> + +<p>They went somewhat out of their way that Dame Grant might leave some +parcels at the patrol station, their course taking them within a hundred +yards of the three prison-ships rocking in the bay. At first Richard +turned his eyes away with a sickening sense of pain and rage, then +looked eagerly to see if he might recognize Peter on the deck. Yes, +there he was, near the stern; Richard knew him from his height and from +the cap he wore, and he had to hold his teeth clenched to keep from +crying out to him. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>How dismal and condemned the three hulks looked, +despite the transfiguring touch of the morning! And over there on the +strand was his grave, the spot to which his mother’s thoughts would make +many a sorrowful pilgrimage if so the news of his death should outrun +him to the Carolina hills.</p> + +<p>At the station one of the guards remarked on the fact that the dame had +a new hand aboard.</p> + +<p>“Yes; Henry’s stomach’s apt to go back on him in rough weather, and at +this season o’ the year we are like to get into a blow any time, so I +left him and brought a stronger man. It turns my blood to see Henry +heaving and gagging when he ought to be shortening sail.”</p> + +<p>“Well, yon fellow hasn’t much the look of a sailor,” said the man, eying +Richard suspiciously as he was making awkward attempts to pull in a +flapping sail.</p> + +<p>“Oh, he isn’t showing off, but he suits me well enough,” the dame +answered, with a warning side look at Richard, who instantly gave better +heed to his task. Nothing but her coolness saved him, for the guard’s +word, coming so suddenly, had made him go very white.</p> + +<p>Then a pæan of praise went singing itself through his heart, for the +parcels were delivered, and pushing off from shore the boat sailed out +of the bay and turned her nose to the west. Down the narrow waterway +between Long Island and the city of New York they sailed all the +morning, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>stopping here and there at signals from patrol stations to +show their passports. But at none of these places were they detained +very long, for Dame Grant had looked carefully to such matters, and so +noon found them in a wide bay to the south of the city. No misfortune +had befallen Richard, for he had kept a still tongue at every stopping +place. In the afternoon the breeze quickened, and they went racing away +before it toward the ever growing shore-line ahead, and in the gloaming +they landed at a little hamlet on the Jersey side of the bay.</p> + +<p>High up on the beach the boat was pulled and tied to a stake, and then +while the boy was gaping about him, Richard went back to the boat side +and took the dame’s big hand in his:—</p> + +<p>“You have kept your contract, and the gold is yours; God bless you for a +good, true woman!” he said, leaving the coin in her palm.</p> + +<p>But she thrust it back vigorously: “Nay, I will none of it; I but put it +in the bargain to test you. You have paid me twofold by your labour and +your good gratitude. Tell your Joscelyn that I send you to her as a +gift, and bid her use you well.”</p> + +<p>Nothing could prevail upon her to touch the coin, and so at last Richard +turned away.</p> + +<p>“Hist!” she said, holding him a moment, “’tis said there is a +Continental force near Brunswick; keep to the southwest.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you, and God keep you!” And the gathering shadows swallowed him +up.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p><p>At that very moment, on board the prison-ship <i>Good Hope</i>, Eustace +Singleton was listening to the story of his death from the obsequious +warden, and wondering how he was to write it to Betty.</p> + +<p>And far away in Hillsboro’ Joscelyn and Betty were going slowly home in +bitter disappointment, after seeing the post-rider distribute his few +letters, and finding there was nothing for them. How many and how long +had been the weeks since they wrote to Eustace; for then it was +summer-time, and now the red and ochre tints of the autumn flamed in the +woodlands. And still Betty cried, and still Joscelyn counselled +patience.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>“KISS ME QUICK AND LET ME GO.”</h3> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<div class="centerbox7 bbox"><p><span style="margin-left:6em;">“And to his eye</span><br /> +There was but one beloved face on earth,<br /> +And that was shining on him.”</p></div> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span>t was a windy day in late November, one of those rare days when summer, +repenting of her desertion, steals softly back to comfort the earth with +a parting smile. Out in the brown fields the birds pruned their wings in +the sun and sang a few notes softly, as a singer who recalls fitfully +and doubtfully a long forgotten tune; the golden daisies by the door +still burnt like stars late fallen from the far firmament; a revivified +butterfly hovered languidly over the faded aster beds, and venturesome +wasps sallied from their castles under the eaves and buzzed droningly +against the window panes. It was a day of shifting shadows, of subtle +changes and soft surprises.</p> + +<p>Joscelyn and Betty sat over their embroidery frames in the latter’s +parlour, talking over the events of the past two months—the long wait +between their letter to Eustace and his sorrowful reply; the grief that +clouded the two houses for four days following, before they knew that +Richard <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>had escaped and was not dead, and the intense relief and joy +his short message had brought them.</p> + +<p>“It was like a hundred candles suddenly brought into a dark room,” Betty +said, snipping off her thread. “But do you know, Joscelyn, that you +acted so queerly, scolding because you had cried so much, and cocking +your head before the mirror to count the wrinkles your grieving had +made,—though for the life of me I could never see one of them,—that I +half believed you were angry that Richard had not died in truth.”</p> + +<p>“You give me credit for much feeling, I am sure,” quizzed Joscelyn. “But +in sooth, Betty, when a woman gets circles under her eyes, and crow’s +feet at the corners of her mouth, and a dismal whine to her voice +through over-much sighing, she likes to know it has not been all in +vain. Wasted grief is like wasted sweets—useless.”</p> + +<p>“I would to heaven all grief were useless and in vain.”</p> + +<p>Joscelyn shook her head. “That would not do; for without grief there +would be no pity, and without pity there would be no love, and life +without love were not worth the living.”</p> + +<p>“Love? What do you know of love?” Betty asked, looking up quickly.</p> + +<p>“You vain little minx! do you think Cupid wasted all his arrows on you +and Eustace?”</p> + +<p>“N-o; but Joscelyn—”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p><p>“‘But, Joscelyn,’” mimicked the other, still laughing; “from the doubt +in your voice one would think you were own daughter to that biblical +Thomas whose faith was so small. Trust me, Cupid has saved a shaft in +his quiver for me.”</p> + +<p>“You are such a queer girl, Joscelyn; one never knows how to take you. +You sorrowed for Richard so vehemently at first—do you—can you mean +that you care just a little for him?”</p> + +<p>“My dear, I was much more in love with Richard dead than I am ever like +to be with Richard alive. You see, Death is not unlike charity: it +covers a multitude of faults.”</p> + +<p>“You heartless creature!”</p> + +<p>And Betty got up and took her frame to another window. But she could +never stay angry long, partly because of her gentle disposition, and +partly because she knew that much of Joscelyn’s seeming heartlessness +was in truth but mischievous banter; and so their heads were close +together again very soon, while their needles wrought silken poppies or +blue-eyed violets into the meshes of canvas on their frames.</p> + +<p>And while they thus talked and sewed, a horseman came galloping down the +streets. A great commotion followed in his wake; for he rode with a free +rein and so rapidly withal that his horse’s hoofs struck sparks from the +loose stones of the street. Straight to Mistress Clevering’s door he +went, and springing down stayed not to knock or parley, but entering +without ceremony and meeting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>the astonished lady in the hall, hugged +her with a will.</p> + +<p>“Why—it is—Richard—Richard!”</p> + +<p>Her voice was half choked with giving back his kisses, but it reached +the two girls in the parlour who, startled at first into silence, threw +down their needles and rushed headlong into the hall, and, before they +realized it, were kissed by the newcomer in a rapturous greeting.</p> + +<p>Joscelyn’s cheek burnt scarlet under his lips, but so glad was she to +see him safe after all their anxiety that she submitted without protest. +In faith, it was over so quickly, there had been no time for resistance. +Devouring her with his eyes, he tried to retain her hand when the +greeting was over, but after a moment she slipped it, not unkindly, from +his grasp, and presently when he had told them briefly of his marvellous +escape, she ran over to give her mother the news and to see if there was +not a piece of his favourite cake in the cupboard. A warm tingle was in +her veins, and she put her hand up to the cheek he had kissed. How +pleasant it was to hear his voice in the house. If he would only leave +the war alone, and—and quit making love to her, she would be so fond of +him; they used to be excellent comrades before these two things came +between them.</p> + +<p>Thinking thus, she put a napkin over the cake and turned to leave the +pantry; but Richard, under pretext of speaking to her mother, had +followed her, and now stood in the door barring her exit.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p><p>“Joscelyn, how good it is to see you again! Have you thought of me?”</p> + +<p>“’Twould have been impossible not to think of you with nothing else +being talked of in the house these two months past.”</p> + +<p>“But have you missed me?”</p> + +<p>“Why, we miss anything to which we have been accustomed.”</p> + +<p>“And you sorrowed for me?”</p> + +<p>“Truly, Richard, I should be a most hard-hearted girl not to sorrow over +such suffering as has been yours.”</p> + +<p>“God bless you!” He was so full of joy over the meeting that he did not +notice the lack of love-warmth in her voice, but when he would have put +his arm about her, she pushed him off with quiet decision.</p> + +<p>“Nay, Richard, do not begin that. You told your mother just now that you +had but three hours to stay with us; let us not waste a single moment of +the time in a useless love-making.”</p> + +<p>“But you kissed me for greeting.”</p> + +<p>“Nay, sir, ’twas you kissed me,” she said, with a shimmer of laughter +over her face like sunlight upon dancing water.</p> + +<p>“Listen, sweetheart,” he said, coming very close to her, his head +swimming with the soft intoxication of her presence; “we may have but +these few minutes together, but I want you to know that it was the +thought of you that kept me alive in that vile prison and finally nerved +me to escape. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>But for you,—for the fierce longing to see you, to touch +you,—I should have stayed there and died like a rat.”</p> + +<p>“Eustace did all he could,” she broke in, “but our letter was long in +reaching him, for General Clinton had sent him to help repel the attack +on Rhode Island, and he did not return to New York for more than a +month.”</p> + +<p>“I know, and some day I shall thank him; but he could not have effected +my release or exchange, only bought a little favour from my hard +jailers, and I cared not for that kind of obligation from one of his +name. It was you—the memory of your dear face—that steeled my nerves +and broke my bonds. There is a species of numbing despair that comes +upon a man sometimes over which a great love alone can triumph.”</p> + +<p>She put her hand upon his arm, for there was a pathos in his voice that +touched her deeply; “Richard, I wish I loved you.”</p> + +<p>“And so you shall, and do,” he cried; and instantly the tender spell +upon her was broken, for in his tone and manner was the old arrogance +and sureness that she so much resented. He felt the change, and said +pleadingly, “The fisherwoman who rescued me said at parting, ‘Tell your +Joscelyn to use you well.’ Are you so soon forgetting her injunction?”</p> + +<p>“Nay; she was a good woman, and I shall pray for her.”</p> + +<p>“Love me instead—’twill be truer gratitude.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p><p>But his mother and Mistress Cheshire were in the hall, and so for answer +Joscelyn pushed him through the door; and he went out to the older +women, munching a bit of sweet cake like a boy.</p> + +<p>By this time the neighbours were all collected about the door, eager to +hear of absent sons and husbands; and he went out to them and answered +questions, and took messages and told anew the story of his escape, but +with such omissions of names as to throw no suspicion on Dame Grant, if +so the story found its way back to the north.</p> + +<p>“And in writing to Peter,” he said to Patience and her mother, who were +grief stricken at his story, “say only that Dick Clevering told you +where he was; he will understand, and anything else might arouse the +warden’s suspicions and bring punishment upon him.”</p> + +<p>He thought they would never have done with their inquiries and their +bemoanings, so short was his time and so eager was he for one more word +with Joscelyn. At last he said:—</p> + +<p>“And now, my friends, I will carry as many letters as my pockets can +hold, but they must be writ in short shift, for in an hour I go on my +journey and shall not return this way when once I set my face +northward.”</p> + +<p>And so they went away,—some to prepare their missives, others out of +delicacy, feeling his own people must have him to themselves.</p> + +<p>“Tell us all about your journey’s purpose, Richard,” said Betty.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p><p>“No, sister; a soldier’s mission is not his property. Suffice it +for you to know that another man, Dunn by name, and I go through the +Carolinas, perhaps so far south as Savannah, on business for the +commander-in-chief. He cannot weaken his present force by detaching any +number of men to aid the southerners, but he wants to put them on their +guard against the force Clinton is sending by sea from New York; and +also to learn accurately the strength of the cause in these parts.”</p> + +<p>“And where is Master Dunn?”</p> + +<p>“He stopped for a few hours over the Virginia line to see his wife, and +I rode the livelong night that I might have this glimpse of you. +Methinks I should almost have deserted to come back for a look at you +all, had I not persuaded Dunn to choose me on this expedition.”</p> + +<p>“And where are you to meet him?”</p> + +<p>“At Charlotte, three days hence.”</p> + +<p>“When Eustace—when Master Singleton,”—Betty corrected herself, with a +vivid blush, “wrote, saying you were dead, mother and I were like to go +crazy with grief. He wrote it kindly, but for two days mother did not +leave her bed.”</p> + +<p>“And what did Joscelyn say?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, Joscelyn cried till her eyes were all red and puffed, and reminded +us how you and she used to ride and read and walk together without even +so much as a sharp word until the war talk came on. She did much to +comfort mother.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p><p>“God bless her! But you were not long in suspense?”</p> + +<p>“No; but mother had already prepared to have a service in your memory, +and Janet and Patience had practised the hymns.”</p> + +<p>“Well, there was at least a grave to sing over,” laughed Richard; but +his mother was crying, even to think of those sad hours.</p> + +<p>“How thin you are!” she said, feeling his arms tenderly.</p> + +<p>“Well, mother, when a man has been in his grave, ’tis not to be expected +that he will look like one of the fatted kine. But I am plump as a rosy +Cupid compared with what I have been; and this reminds me that I am +hungry for some of your good cooking; do you and Betty get me up a bit +of dinner while I look to my horse.”</p> + +<p>But he knew his horse had been cared for, and instead of the stable, it +was Joscelyn’s door he sought.</p> + +<p>“I have but a little while left,” he said; “come and sit with us, that I +may not lose sight of you for one of those blessed minutes. I am as a +thirsty man with the cup held ever out of his reach.”</p> + +<p>“I thought you would wish to talk with your mother and sister alone.”</p> + +<p>“There is nothing I tell them that I would not quite as willingly trust +to you; for though you are a Loyalist, yet you are loyal to your +friends,” he said, smiling at his own pleasantry, and she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>laughed too. +Long afterward those words came back to him with a pang.</p> + +<p>As they crossed the street Mistress Strudwick hailed them from the +sidewalk. “Hey, there, Richard! you are keeping bad company and will +fall under suspicion, consorting with that young Tory,” she cried. “Are +your despatches in the pocket next to her?—if so, beware!”</p> + +<p>“I have them in my heart, Mistress Strudwick.”</p> + +<p>“Then in faith are they already Joscelyn’s,” laughed the old lady, +teasingly pinching the girl’s cheek as the two came up to her.</p> + +<p>“Come, Mistress Strudwick, Richard wears not his heart on his sleeve.”</p> + +<p>“But he pins it instead upon yours—which is quite as public. Ah, +Richard, she is a sad dare-devil!” and she went on to tell him of some +of the scenes of the past months. He had feared for her from the first, +and in his mother’s parlour he caught her arm almost fiercely:—</p> + +<p>“Are you mad that you jeopardize yourself in this way?”</p> + +<p>“Mistress Strudwick is over-alarmed; I can take care of myself,” she +answered, a trifle hotly.</p> + +<p>But he was not satisfied; one word brought on another, and they were +nearly quarrelling when Betty came to say his dinner was ready.</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn,” he whispered, with a sudden softening of manner as they went +down the hall, and he took her hand and laid in it a shining gold piece, +“this is all the gold I have in the world; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>it was to have paid the +price of my flight, but the fisherwoman would not have it. Keep it for +me till the war is done—I have a special purpose for it.”</p> + +<p>After dinner the neighbours came with their letters and farewells, and +he had no further talk alone with Joscelyn. She bade him a very gentle +good-by, however, and ran across to her own balcony opposite, while he +comforted his mother and Betty and said farewell to the assembled +friends. When he was mounted and had waved them a last adieu, he made +his horse curvet as though loath to start, and so brought up close to +the rail of the opposite balcony.</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn, keep the gold piece safe and in some hallowed place, for when +the war is done it shall be made into our wedding ring—’tis for that I +saved it. Good-by, sweetheart.”</p> + +<p>And then he was gone as he had come, with a free rein and a ringing hoof +beat; and the crowd behind broke into small groups to discuss the news +he had brought, while the girl leaning on the veranda across the way, +turned a shining coin in her hand, looking at it pensively, with a +curious light in her eyes.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3>THE WEARING OF A RED ROSE.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox5 bbox"><p>“She gives thee a garland woven fair,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Take care!</span><br /> +It is a fool’s-cap for thee to wear,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Beware! Beware!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Trust her not.</span><br /> +She’s fooling thee!”</p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Longfellow.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he winter that followed was a quiet one in Hillsboro’. Joscelyn sewed +at the flaming poppies of her embroidery during the mornings, rode with +Betty or Mary Singleton over the commons in the afternoons when the snow +was not too deep, and in the evenings played cribbage with her mother or +sang to the sound of her spinet in the fire-lighted parlour. Now and +then news of the outside strife came over the mountains or out of the +far reaches to the north and east; but the red wave of war spent itself +before it reached the inland town. Washington was jealously watching the +British in New York, and in the south the fate of Charleston was rapidly +being sealed, while now and then a soldier, coming home on furlough or +sick leave, brought tidings of the partisan warfare, ceaselessly waged +through the Carolinas and Georgia by Sumter and Marion <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>and other bold +leaders; but Hillsboro’, upon the Eno, dozed through the long winter +months.</p> + +<p>“This war is worse than tiresome; it’s perfectly hateful,” Janet Cameron +said, twisting her yellow curls about her fingers and pouting +disconsolately; “it is making old maids of us whether the men wish it or +not. Here I am, eighteen this coming Whitsuntide, and not a genuine +suitor have I had.”</p> + +<p>“Fie, Janet! Where is Billy Bryce?” asked Joscelyn, in whose room the +two sat. “Billy has loved you from your pinafore days.”</p> + +<p>“That baby?” with a scornful accent.</p> + +<p>“You did not use to think him such a baby.”</p> + +<p>“Perchance not; for he is a whole six months older than I, and that is a +mighty age!”</p> + +<p>“What manner of lover do you want now?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, a grown man—a big strong fellow with a will of his own, who never +asks for a kiss, but just takes it.”</p> + +<p>“You little minx! what know you of kissing menfolk?”</p> + +<p>“Nothing—that is just it—”</p> + +<p>“Janet!”</p> + +<p>“—for when Billy blushes like a peony, and politely and decorously begs +to kiss my cheek, I am in duty bound to look shocked, and blush back, +and say no; nothing else would satisfy my dignity, though I could pinch +him for it! That is why I call him a baby,” stoutly maintained the girl, +her lips curling, and her voice full of mockery.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p><p>“He does not wish to forget his manners.”</p> + +<p>“To say always ‘if you please’ for tender favours is not the manners for +a lover.”</p> + +<p>“Since you are so wise, tell me what sort of manners a lover should +have.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, you know without the telling! He ought to be headstrong and +masterful and a—a bold robber when it comes to claiming favours from +his lady; and full of mock repentance after the theft.”</p> + +<p>“Well, when Billy comes from the war, I shall give him a hint as to how +to mend his behaviour.”</p> + +<p>“An you did, I should hate you. Why, he does not even know how to write +to a girl. Here is a letter from him in which he sends his duty to his +mother—did you ever hear of such idiocy? A love-letter with a message +like that! A love letter should be private and confidential, filled full +of such sweetness that one pair of eyes alone should read it; and he +sends his duty to his mother, forsooth! Why, that prying old creature +would insist upon reading every line written here if I gave her the +message—and Heaven knows she might, and be none the wiser, for all of +sentiment there is in it is this last sentence, ‘I would send you my +love, an I dared; but I would not for the world make you angry or hurt +your maidenly modesty.’ Now that is a love-letter for you!”</p> + +<p>“Well, it is not deliriously passionate,” admitted Joscelyn.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p><p>“It is deliriously idiotic. I’d just have him understand that my modesty +is not quite so thin-skinned as he imagines.”</p> + +<p>Joscelyn fell back in her chair, shrieking with laughter, while the +yellow-headed tempest before the glass shook her curls, and emphasized +her words with a scouting gesture, “Why, Joscelyn, if I were that boy’s +great-grandmother, he could not treat me with more deferential respect.”</p> + +<p>“I think it is beautiful in him.”</p> + +<p>“Beautiful! Well, I think it is <i>imbecile</i>! Hurt my maidenly modesty, +indeed!—one would think my modesty were a sore toe to be stubbed or +trod upon. Stop laughing, Joscelyn Cheshire; you are as stupid as +Billy.” And when Joscelyn answered with another silvery peal, Janet, in +high indignation, flung out of the room and down the steps, her heels +clattering as she went; and the next morning her maid carried the +offending letter to Mistress Bryce with a sweetly worded note, saying +Billy had no doubt made a mistake in the address of his missive. And +Billy swore his first oath when he heard of it.</p> + +<p>Nor was Janet the only one who came to confessional in Joscelyn’s room. +It was there that Betty found the only outlet for her secret joy. In +spite of the war and its sad consequences, the year had been such a +happy one—the sweetest year she had ever known; for it had been full of +dreams and fancies, of thrills and hopes. Even the self-reproach, with +which she sometimes tormented <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>herself because of her mother, had in it +a touch of sweetness since it was linked with her love. The whole world +was as a new place; the winter snows held an unthought of revelation of +beauty, and each flower that budded to the spring sunshine was a fresh +creation bearing on its petals an unspelled message of love. She would +not write to Eustace, for that would be undutiful to her mother; but +Joscelyn’s letters were filled with tender messages for her, with now +and then a little wafered note that burnt her fingers with a delicious +sense of forbidden fruit, and which she read and re-read in the privacy +of her white-curtained room, trembling and flushing at the story they +told,—the future they painted.</p> + +<p>But as the spring advanced, a shade of sadness crept over her happiness, +a film like the impalpable dust that gathers on a fine picture hanging +always in the light. Eustace had ceased to write. Two months had gone +by, and no word had come from him. A strange, new fear was tugging at +Betty’s heart.</p> + +<p>“Naught of evil has befallen him, or Mary would know; and you said they +had no tidings?” she asked wistfully one evening, as she leaned against +Joscelyn’s window and watched the pale-petalled stars blossom through +the purple gloaming.</p> + +<p>“I rode all the way to the Singletons’ yesterday afternoon on purpose to +ask, and they know nothing.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p><p>“And his mother feels no uneasiness?”</p> + +<p>“None. She says Lord Cornwallis would immediately inform her if he +should be killed.”</p> + +<p>Betty heaved a deep sigh; and then that latent fear came out, “I suppose +he finds the ladies of the city so beautiful and entertaining that he +has forgotten his—his friends here.”</p> + +<p>“S-o! that is what makes you so long of face these days? Well, I do not +believe a word of it. Eustace is no jilt. You will find that you at +least are remembered, and that his silence is from reasonable cause.”</p> + +<p>“His cousin, Ellen Singleton, is such a beautiful woman—you remember +Richard told us of her in his letter about the Philadelphia fête. Like +Mary, he said, only more lovely. They must of necessity be much +together, for she, too, is in New York.”</p> + +<p>“And betrothed to Major Grant, you jealous child.”</p> + +<p>“But that need really make no difference so far as Eustace’s admiration +goes. Besides, there must be others as lovely.”</p> + +<p>“Of course; but you are pretty, too, when your face is not long and your +eyes red with weeping.”</p> + +<p>Betty went home comforted; and that night, when her mother made some +sharp remark about the Singleton household, she plucked up courage to +say it was scarcely fair to judge the whole family adversely because of +the father’s shortcomings. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>And then, scared at her own temerity, she +ran away to her room, and cried out her trouble to that insensate and +inanimate confessor of wronged or sorrowing womanhood,—her pillow.</p> + +<p>A week later, Joscelyn, coming from the Singletons’, tied a red ribbon +on her shutter as a sign that she had news; and Betty, hastening over, +soon learned of Clinton’s long and tempestuous voyage from New York to +Charleston, whither he went to subdue that city. Eustace had been badly +hurt in the storm that wrecked so many of the transports, and had been +laid up in the hospital at Tybee Bay for weeks, while Clinton went on to +Charleston to begin the siege.</p> + +<p>So the British had come again to the south to teach the people of that +section their duty to their king, and the quiet that had reigned at +Hillsboro’ was broken by the coming and going of recruiting parties, and +by the vacillating reports of victory or failure from the beleaguered +city.</p> + +<p>But it was not until August that the climax came. Then Gates, smarting +with the defeat at Camden, halted the remnant of his flying army, +scarcely a thousand strong, at the town on the Eno, to rest and sum up +the full measure of the disaster that had befallen him. During the short +time that he remained, the town was in a ferment. The way to the camp +was thronged with sympathizers; kitchen chimneys smoked with the extra +cooking, and in every house was a banquet of the best that could be had. +Only in the Cheshire <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>house was there no preparation, nor yet upon the +door was there the blue and buff cockade that marked the others. There +were not lacking those who called official attention to this fact, and +so many comments and criticisms crept about among the soldiers that a +couple of young officers, bent on a frolic and thinking to teach this +wilful Joscelyn a needed lesson, stopped upon her porch and sent word +that they would speak with her. And presently she came down to them, +dressed fit to dance in a queen’s minuet in silver brocade over a +scarlet petticoat, the round whiteness of her neck and arms shining +through foamy lace, a red rose in her powdered hair, and a black patch +near the corner of her mouth giving a saucy emphasis to her lips. As she +stepped out of the door, the young fellows who had been lounging on the +porch rail instantly sprang up and uncovered at the sight of so much +beauty and dignity. They had thought to find a country maid, mayhap a +woman past her youth; and instead, this glowing creature stood before +them.</p> + +<p>“What is your pleasure, gentlemen?” she asked; but the stiff courtesy of +her question was belied by the laugh in her eyes.</p> + +<p>They exchanged uneasy glances, and one took a step toward the porch +exit; but the other, who was to be spokesman, summing up resolution, +stammered and answered:—</p> + +<p>“We found no cockade of the nation’s colours on your door, and did but +stop to ask the reason.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p><p>“Your general sent you?”</p> + +<p>“No, no; we were but passing, and came of our own accord.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, a friendly visit, with no official significance? I pray you present +each other,” and she courtesied at each name. “And now let us go into +the parlour and see what can be done for your entertainment.”</p> + +<p>And in the parlour she gave them the best chairs, and set herself with +much graciousness of manner to entertain them, plying them with delicate +compliments, singing her Tory ballads with such laughing abandon that in +the same spirit of fun they applauded her, thinking not a moment of the +songs, but of the singer. Later on she brewed them a cup of tea, telling +them it was a love potion to win a fair one’s favour; and although they +began by protesting vehemently, yet they ended by drinking it, for she +first put her own lips to the cups, and then dared them with her eyes. +After that they would scarcely have hesitated at hemlock. At the end of +an hour she dismissed them, each with a red rose in his coat.</p> + +<p>“The colour suits your handsome eyes,” she said softly to one, with a +ravishing glance, as she fastened the flower in place. And to the other +she murmured, with downcast lids and a sweet similitude of faltering, +“This is for memory,” as though for them both this hour was to be a +tryst for thought and tender recollection, and the rose its symbol.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p><p>Neither of them had the wish nor the will to tear the flower away; and +so with a certain crestfallen exhilaration they took their leave, riding +slowly down the street, swearing each other to silence. But the story +got the rounds within the hour, for Mistress Strudwick, seeing them +enter the house and fearing some danger or annoyance to Joscelyn, had +followed quickly, and sat in the next room with the door ajar during the +entire interview. And she was not slow in publishing it abroad, so that +the young officers were twitted unmercifully at mess and headquarters; +even General Gates, when told of it, forgot for a moment the humiliation +of his late defeat, and laughed long and loud. Under the banter one of +the men threw his rose away; but the other held stoutly to his, meeting +the raillery with the assertion that it was a lady’s favour and not a +king’s colour that he wore.</p> + +<p>“It was not kindly of you to take such mean advantage of them, Joscelyn, +seeing how irresistible you can make yourself, but it was just the +cleverest thing you ever did,” Janet cried, squeezing Joscelyn’s waist. +“Mistress Strudwick has near had apoplexy with laughter, and even +Mistress Bryce—who hates you like a double dose of senna and was the +first to call attention to your undecorated door—could not keep a +straight face to hear how neatly you outwitted the young coxcombs. But +really, my dear, you deserve no great credit for it; for in that gown +you are fit to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>melt harder hearts than Providence gave our gallant +young soldiers.”</p> + +<p>“I do not flatter myself their hearts were touched; it was only their +vanity that melted like wax in the flame of my flattery.”</p> + +<p>“Well, they deserved what they got,—trying to teach you behaviour, +indeed!”</p> + +<p>The next day the army, refreshed and rested, took up its line of march, +passing directly in front of the Cheshire homestead. On the veranda, in +her brocade and brilliant petticoat and framed by the riotous rose vine, +Joscelyn sat and made pretence to be very busy with her flax wheel; but +from under her drooping lids she saw the whole procession.</p> + +<p>Beside his company rode a young lieutenant, his eager gaze ahead of him +until he reached the undecorated house; then his hat came off, and +lifting his lapel on which hung a faded red rose, he cried up to the +girl in the balcony:—</p> + +<p>“This is for memory!”</p> + +<p>And Joscelyn laughed and fluttered her white handkerchief with what +might or might not be the suggestion of a kiss. And he, forgetful of +military decorum, turned in his saddle and kept his gaze upon her until +the troop passed beyond the corner.</p> + +<p>“Do you know, Joscelyn,” cried Janet, rushing up the steps, her eyes +shining and her yellow curls flying in the wind, “that was Lieutenant +Wyley from Halifax—and he is brother to Frederick—and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>Frederick +danced with no one but me last night (you don’t know what you missed in +not going to the cotillion!)—and he has been at my house the livelong +morning.”</p> + +<p>“S-o! You have then a new beau to your string?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes! and he is strong and masterful, and talks love beautifully, +and he does not say ‘by your leave’ like Billy, but is just what a lover +should be.”</p> + +<p>“Janet, Janet!” cried Joscelyn, reprovingly; but the laughing girl +tossed her yellow curls coquettishly, the exhilaration of a new conquest +upon her; then suddenly hid her face on Joscelyn’s shoulder:—</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn, dearest, did you ever feel a lover’s lips against your cheek +for just one little moment?”</p> + +<p>And Joscelyn went suddenly as red as she, remembering that November day +when Richard came home.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3>JOSCELYN’S PERIL.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox3 bbox"><p>“First time he kissed me, he but only kissed<br /> +The fingers of this hand wherewith I write;<br /> +And, ever since, it grew more clean and white,<br /> +Slow to world greetings, quick with its ‘O list!’<br /> +When the angels speak.”</p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Mrs. Browning.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>hus the months had come and gone, and come again, until three years had +passed since Richard’s company marched away that winter day to join +their comrades at Valley Forge. Three years of warfare, and victory yet +faltered to remain with either standard, but wavered like a fickle woman +from side to side. And Joscelyn held to her allegiance, wearing her +scarlet bodice in open rejoicing at news of an English victory, and +decking herself in sombre mourning when tidings of the American triumph +at King’s Mountain thrilled the country with an awakened hope. And in +these habiliments she walked the streets, or sat upon her balcony, that +none might be in doubt as to her feelings.</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn Cheshire be as good as a war barometer,” said Mistress +Strudwick; “one has but to look at her to know whether to rejoice or to +sorrow.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p><p>Vainly her mother argued with the girl, showing the danger she ran of +drawing upon them both the enmity of the community.</p> + +<p>“We are but two lone women, and what could we do against a mob? You go +too far in this matter, my daughter. An you alter not your behaviour, we +shall be driven from the town, or else have our house burned over our +heads. Only yesterday Sally Ruffin was telling your Aunt Clevering of +some threats she had heard concerning you.”</p> + +<p>But Joscelyn shrugged her shoulders. “They will not harm you, mother; +you are too much of their party creed. And as for me, I fear them not; +they will do naught more serious than to tear down my royal +picture-gallery from the porch, and break a few more window-panes.”</p> + +<p>And truly martial events were crowding so fast upon each other that the +community had no time to resent the caprices of a girl. All interest was +now centred in the south. Greene had superseded Gates; Cowpens had been +fought and Tarleton sent in rout to Cornwallis, who started in hot haste +to chastise the victors and recover his captured troopers. But Morgan +threw his battalion over the Catawba; Greene took entire command, and +then begun that marvellous retreat, every step of which was as an +American victory. The pursuit was close behind. The whole country held +its breath at the spectacle of two great armies vying against each other +on almost parallel roads <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>for the far-off fords of the Dan. Twenty-five, +even thirty miles a day they tramped it over roads deep in mire that +held them back as with a fiendish purpose. It was a spectacle to stir +one’s blood, no matter on which side the sympathies,—this Titanic +struggle, this heroic race. The rear-guard of the pursued, and the van +of the pursuer, often bivouacked in sight of each other’s watch-fires. +Petty strife was at an end; the great principles of war alone held sway, +and it were hard to say in which camp there was more of resolute +endeavour.</p> + +<p>The flooding rains detained Cornwallis at the Catawba, and yet again at +the Yadkin, giving the Americans somewhat of advantage, so that Joscelyn +Cheshire said in her mocking way, that the “weather was supplying the +deficiencies of nature and making a great general out of Nathaniel +Greene.”</p> + +<p>“Rather is God aiding a righteous cause,” Aunt Clevering retorted.</p> + +<p>Hillsboro’ was in a fever of excitement during those days, knowing that +somewhere beyond the mountains that skirted her on the west, these +armies, like mighty leviathans, were writhing on their courses. The town +lay almost in the path of both, and each day was full of rumours and +contradictions. The country people, both Whigs and Tories, crowded in to +learn more speedily the news. The streets were thronged each day with +anxious men and women, asking each other questions and exchanging +surmises. And every day <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>Joscelyn rode her horse from the bridge that +spanned the Eno on the western edge of the town to the clump of boulders +called the “Hen and Chickens,” which cropped out of a common that lay +high to the eastward. And always she wore in her hat, with jaunty grace, +a cockade of scarlet ribbon; and Tories bowed low as she passed, and +Whigs scowled and shrugged their shoulders, marvelling at her daring.</p> + +<p>But at last the news came that the race was done; Greene had crossed the +Dan to the safety of Virginia, and a union with the reënforcements +hastily spared him from the northern division, and Cornwallis was +baffled. Disappointed, he turned southward once more, and one February +day the vanguard rode haughtily into Hillsboro’, and ere night the +sloping commons, flanking the town to the east and northeast, were white +with a tent city swarming with the soldiers of the king.</p> + +<p>In the general excitement Betty ran across the street and, twisting +Joscelyn’s apron-string the while, asked, “Do you think Eus—that is, +that you will have any friends on Cornwallis’s staff?”</p> + +<p>“I am quite sure you will have one,” answered Joscelyn, with a laughing +accent on the second pronoun. “Mary is already in the parlour wanting me +to go with her and hunt him; what message shall I carry that my welcome +may be sure?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, none!” hastily answered Betty. Then added, with a shy laugh, “Of +course I shall have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>to see him and thank him for his efforts in +Richard’s behalf.”</p> + +<p>“Methinks you will have to go through that disagreeable ordeal. When I +see him I shall casually mention that I have asked you to be here at +five this afternoon.”</p> + +<p>But Eustace did not wait so long to hear Betty’s thanks. He laid no +stress on his services save as a pretext to see her, and when his duties +at headquarters were over he boldly presented himself at Mistress +Clevering’s door; and Betty, blushing and palpitating, came down to meet +him; and seeing her thus, his heart surrendered itself anew. But her +mother, following close in her wake, gave him no chance to say the +things he longed.</p> + +<p>“We deeply appreciate your efforts for my son, Master Singleton,” she +said, sitting stiffly on the extreme edge of her chair, as if ready to +rise on the instant.</p> + +<p>“I have called this morning, madam, not to receive your thanks, for I do +not deserve them; but to say how sorry I was not to do more for him and +for you, and also to express my sincere regrets over his death.”</p> + +<p>“Your regrets are misplaced; my son still lives.”</p> + +<p>He stood up, amazed; and the lady also rose as though to bid him adieu. +“Still alive? You astound me, madam; I saw his death record.”</p> + +<p>“He escaped instead of dying.”</p> + +<p>“It sounds like a miracle; but I am glad of it.” He turned to Betty, but +her mother had not resumed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>her seat, and so he, too, stood in an +awkward hesitation. But the girl put out her hands with an impulsive +gesture, and he gathered them both close in his.</p> + +<p>“It was good of you—so good to go to that horrible ship!”</p> + +<p>“I would have gone to the ends of the world to serve you. Your simplest +wish would be my law, and I would count myself well paid with a smile or +one gentle word.” He had forgotten her mother standing there like a +sphinx; and Betty’s face went suddenly pale, and then as suddenly +reddened and dimpled, for he bent down and kissed each of her hands +lingeringly.</p> + +<p>“Master Singleton!” The harsh tones recalled him to himself. He turned +to the older woman. “My daughter joins with me in expressing our +gratitude. Since your time must be short, we will no longer detain you.”</p> + +<p>Of course he went, and Betty fled to Joscelyn for comfort, for her +mother had said sternly:—</p> + +<p>“We have done our duty, let the matter end here; and let me say +furthermore, that to be grateful one need not blush and dimple while an +arch-enemy of the country kisses one’s hand.”</p> + +<p>And Betty had almost choked with confusion, and while crossing the +street had looked at her hands with a sense of tenderness that was new.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Joscelyn, I am so miserable and yet so happy!” And Joscelyn told +her all the sweet things Eustace had said about her at the camp, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>and +sent her home as red and tremulous as a rose in the sun.</p> + +<p>There was joy among the Loyalists over the coming of the Redcoats, and +consternation among those whose relatives were with Greene. Cornwallis +established his headquarters at the inn on King Street, using the +one-roomed building opposite as his office. Here he set up the royal +standard, and issued a proclamation to the Tories of the vicinity to +come to his aid. He looked for a general up-rising in his favour, but he +looked in vain. The country folk rode into town to learn the latest +news, or brought their wives and daughters to the commander’s levees; +but most of them rode home again, unconvinced of the permanency of his +lordship’s dominion.</p> + +<p>Joscelyn watched them wrathfully as they took their departures, and +strove by the courtesy of her own manner to atone for their lack of +loyalty. Her house became at once the social rendezvous of the +newcomers, and few hours of the day went by without a summons upon her +knocker. Often she was in the cavalcade that drew rein before the +general’s office after a ride of inspection through the camp; for with +the army were several Loyalist ladies who had fled from their homes to +their husbands when Greene began his retreat, and with the Tory women of +the neighbourhood they made a goodly company. Mistress Clevering was +filled with rage when, from behind her closed shutters, she saw the +scarlet-coated officers <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>alight at Joscelyn’s door. Mary Singleton was +somewhat chary of her favours, fearing the public resentment when the +British should have withdrawn. But Joscelyn took heed of no such +consideration, and was withal so charming and so cordial that Lord +Cornwallis, recalling his friendship for her father, unbent from his +customary reserve, and exhibited in her parlour a courtesy of bearing +which was of a piece with the humanity he showed upon his campaigns. +Among the younger officers the “Royalist Rose,” as they styled her, +became a favourite ere the second sun went down upon their coming; so +there was ever an escort waiting at her door when the staff rode forth +to the outlying camp.</p> + +<p>And oftener than any one else this escort was Captain Barry, of the +second legion. It was he who stood at the door of the general’s +headquarters when, on that first day, Mary and Joscelyn arrived to make +inquiry for Eustace, and snatching off his hat he came out to receive +them, for they made a very charming picture as they advanced modestly +toward the entrance, piloted by an orderly. The first smile from +Joscelyn’s blue eyes did the whole thing for him. He surrendered at +once, without one effort at self-defence; and when he and Eustace +reached her veranda, having escorted the girls home, there was not so +much as one poor little pennant left fluttering over the ramparts of his +heart. From that hour his comrades, when he was wanted, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>knew in whose +parlour to seek him, and he never failed to let Joscelyn know when there +was a pleasure ride or a tour of inspection planned for the day.</p> + +<p>It was for an excursion of this sort that Joscelyn dressed herself with +exceeding care one afternoon and, with an officer at either bridle-rein, +went out to see the army parade for the commander’s inspection. The +conversation as they paced along was all of the movements of a suspected +spy from Greene’s host beyond the Dan.</p> + +<p>“We cannot locate the fellow; but certain it is, the doings of our army +are reported accurately to the insurrectionists. Yesterday a letter was +discovered in a hollow stump on the mountain side, left there, of +course, by preconcerted arrangement to be called for. The stump is being +secretly watched, but as yet no results have been obtained. This is all +well known and talked about, Mistress Joscelyn, and you, being one of +us—” Barry’s smile said the rest.</p> + +<p>“Is it a townsman who has written these reports, think you?” asked the +girl, going over in her mind the people who might be implicated, with a +quick inward throb for some of her friends.</p> + +<p>“I judge not, for there are references to the writer’s journey back from +the Dan. Evidently it is a follower of Greene who knows this country +well. He is exceedingly artful, but his capture is necessarily certain, +with all the precautions we have taken.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p><p>“And what would be his fate, if caught?”</p> + +<p>“A spy is shot—or mayhap his lordship will hang him on the hill yonder, +where they tell me Governor Tryon swung up the traitorous Regulators in +years gone by. ’Twould be but another chapter in the red history of this +your Tyburn Hill.”</p> + +<p>The young soldier laughed at his own allusion, but Joscelyn shuddered; +for the first time she seemed to fully realize the grim actualities of +war. Her companions chatted on gayly, and finally she forced herself to +join in the conversation; but somehow they could not get away from the +subject of those surreptitious reports and their author.</p> + +<p>The wide upland common had been turned into a parade ground, and was +full of soldiers marching and counter-marching. The general and his +staff were already afield and saluted the newcomers as they passed on to +the “Hen and Chickens,” about which a party of spectators, chiefly +ladies, were already congregated. Here the officers left Joscelyn with +some friends, and rode away to their different commands. It was some +time before the parade began, and in the interim there was much laughing +and talking around the rough boulders. And here again Joscelyn heard of +the wary scout.</p> + +<p>“Who are those men there to the left?” she asked, by way of changing the +conversation, and pointed to five or six men in citizen’s dress who +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>were grouped apart by themselves. Some were mounted; some on foot.</p> + +<p>“Oh, those are the Tory recruits who came in this morning. They have not +yet been assigned to their respective commands, and so are viewing the +scene merely as spectators; to-morrow they will be put in the ranks. The +tall one on the right was with Pyle when Lee surprised and routed him. I +understand he says information of Pyle’s movements was sent to Lee by +some one within the town here—probably a Continental spy.”</p> + +<p>There was more to tell; but the parade was beginning and the +conversation ended, much to Joscelyn’s relief. It somehow unstrung her +nerves to think of another hanging up on Regulators’ Hill. From her +saddle she watched the scarlet companies advance, wheel, pass directly +in front of the general’s staff, and finally take position in the long +line which was thus formed across the field. It was a stirring sight, +and her fingers relaxed their hold on the rein as she leaned forward to +watch every movement. Suddenly a band stationed near the group struck up +a lively air. The unexpected blare of the trumpets startled Joscelyn’s +horse; an upward toss of his head shook the rein from her inert hand, +and then with the panic of fear upon him he wheeled about and dashed off +at a mad pace. The women in the group behind screamed; for the rein was +swinging about the animal’s feet, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>the girl in the saddle was +utterly at his mercy. From the first plunge Joscelyn realized the peril +of her position; for a few seconds she clung terror stricken to the horn +of her saddle; then she shook her foot free from the stirrup and eased +her knee from the pommel, for an awful memory had come to her. A hundred +yards ahead, directly in the path of the frantic horse, was a deep +ditch, ragged with rocks; there the race must end in death to the +horse—and mayhap to the rider. Her one chance was to leap from the +saddle. It took but a second for this to flash through her mind; but +even as she turned slightly in her saddle, a voice rang out sternly +above the braying horns and the thundering hoof beats:—</p> + +<p>“Do not jump, on your life!”</p> + +<p>Her fingers closed over the saddle horn in spasmodic obedience; and then +she saw that the horse was running directly toward the group of men in +civilian dress on the little knoll, and that one of them had sprung +forward and waited with uplifted arm the coming of the runaway. Even +through her terror there came a dim realization of the death he was +courting; but in another instant the collision came. The man was knocked +aside by the flying horse, but his hand had caught the rein, and half +dragged, half running, he kept his place at the animal’s head. Then his +other hand, fumbling uncertainly, found the bit, and he was master of +the brute. Almost upon the brink of the yawning <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>ditch the horse ceased +its plunges and stood still, quivering through its whole body. The other +men who had followed now crowded about with exclamations and inquiries.</p> + +<p>“Will you dismount?” asked her rescuer.</p> + +<p>And then as she stretched out her shaking hands for his assistance, she +saw his face for the first time. He was deathly pale, and his hat, which +some one had picked up, was drawn low over his brow; but the voice and +the eyes were Richard Clevering’s. She would have spoken his name but +for a quick glance of warning from under his hat brim. Then a new sense +of terror swept over her; for, by some swift and subtle instinct, it +came to her that Richard was the hunted spy of whom she had that day +heard so much.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<h3>TRAPPED.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox5 bbox"><p>“You trust a woman who puts forth<br /> +Her blossoms thick as summer’s?”</p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Mrs. Browning.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">N</span>ot a word was spoken as he lifted her to the ground, and when they +turned to walk back to her companions, it was the tall Loyalist who led +her horse. She listened as in a daze to the talk going on around her, +answering briefly the questions of the solicitous group. But the +presence behind her was the one she felt, and yet she dared not look +backward until they were close upon the company at the boulders; then, +lest she seem ungrateful, and also with a definite purpose to warn him, +she turned to speak to him. He was not among those who followed in the +rear. She breathed more freely, scarcely able to restrain a cry of +relief, for surely he had escaped; and presently she said to the tall +man:—</p> + +<p>“Methinks I thanked not your companion sufficiently for the service he +did me. Will you bear him a message of gratitude?”</p> + +<p>“I will speak with him as soon as the parade is over.”</p> + +<p>It was best to end the matter thus, than to see <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>him again face to face; +for she felt she dared not trust her shaken nerves in another interview, +lest the warning she wished to convey turn into a betrayal. He must have +realized his danger, and gone at once.</p> + +<p>Her escape was the subject of much rejoicing; even Lord Cornwallis, to +whom an account of the accident was carried, sent his aide with +congratulations, and Barry came back at a lope, looking like a ghost +with anxiety. She heard not a half of what was said, her mind was in +such a tumult of perplexity as to her rightful course and of anxiety for +her Clevering friends. Naturally her companions attributed her silence +and abstraction to her recent fright, and gave no thought to it. She was +infinitely relieved when the parade was over, and they were once more on +the homeward road. Her horse had recovered from his panic, and was +moving along quietly.</p> + +<p>“If he had to run away, why could he not have given me the chance to +save you?” Barry said, with much chagrin, longing to show his devotion +and gain some hold upon her thoughts.</p> + +<p>“Perhaps he knew that with you at hand he would have no chance,” she +answered with a forced smile, dragging her mind from the dread that +haunted it.</p> + +<p>It was mid-winter; the remnants of a snowstorm still bleached in the +sheltered places among the fields, and whiter yet on the sloping sides +of the mountains behind which the sun had just set, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>leaving them framed +and fringed with yellow fire. The river at their base was hidden in its +banks and could only be guessed at; but the nestling town had caught a +reflection of radiance from the sunset banners flying above it, and +stood out like some sculptured bas-relief against the downward-dropping +hills. Like the fine colours in an opal, the lights came and went, +brightened and faded. Joscelyn’s pulse had begun to beat normally under +the spell of the ethereal beauty of the scene, when suddenly far up the +mountain road her keen eyes descried a moving figure. The trees were +nude of foliage, and the snow lying along the winding road was as a +reflector to show up the dark moving object, which for a moment was seen +and then lost to sight behind a clump of cedars. Was it a cow, or a man +on horseback? A strange curiosity took hold of the girl; she thought she +alone saw it, and all sorts of speculations were in her mind when her +reverie was rudely broken by the officer on her right.</p> + +<p>“Linsey,” he said in a whisper which Joscelyn’s straining ears caught, +at the same time lifting his finger toward the mountain; “Linsey, an I +mistake not, yonder goes our spy; gallop at once to Colonel Tarleton, +and bid him warn his scouts.”</p> + +<p>The aide touched his cap and was gone ere Joscelyn’s startled breath +came back.</p> + +<p>“Why, you are again all of a tremble,” Barry <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>said, leaning over to +touch her hand, a world of anxiety in his eyes.</p> + +<p>“I—I suppose it was the sound of that other horse’s hoofs,” she said, +angry with herself for her weakness. “You see I am not a soldier and +used, like you, to face death every day.”</p> + +<p>“Thank Heaven you are not,” he answered, holding one rein of her bridle +with the joy of a strong man protecting beautiful womanhood. And thus +near to her he whispered many tender things in her ear,—his tense, +young voice vibrant with the awakened passion of his heart; and the +girl’s pulses stirred with a strange, sweet quiver.</p> + +<p>So it was they rode home. There in her own room she went over this whole +dread matter, with a womanish longing in her heart to talk to some +one,—to ask advice; but her mother was too timid, and a glance at Aunt +Clevering’s dark house decided her that it would be cruel to arouse +anxiety there. Then Barry’s manly face and frank eyes came before her, +and in a sudden fit of foolish hysteria, she put her face in her hands +and cried. If she could only go to Barry! But that would have one of two +effects,—it would either put him on Richard’s trail, or else make him +false to his cause by winning him to shield the fugitive. She could not +risk either alternative. And what was true of Barry applied with equal +force to Eustace. She would not, if she could, tempt him, through his +love for Betty, to do anything that would dishonour him among his +fellows. And besides, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>he would not be here to-night with the company +she had invited, for he had said he was going with the relief guard to +one of the outposts. No, there was no one to counsel her; she must think +and act for herself. At first two torturing questions tore her judgment +in twain. The Spartans gave up their nearest and dearest for the cause +of their country, and should she withhold the identity of this man who +had no claim of blood upon her, and who carried perhaps to the king’s +enemies information that would defeat the cause? Should she say, “I know +him”; or should she keep her peace and let him go his way? Then she +realized that her knowledge was too meagre to be of any benefit; his +name was all she could surrender, and that were nothing to his pursuers, +who knew more than she of his work and movements. And besides, there +were Betty and Aunt Clevering and Richard himself. No, she could not +play the part of the Spartan; she wanted to be of use to her cause, but +she was keeping back no treasonable knowledge. And with this comforting +assurance, she put the matter aside and dressed herself for the evening, +lacing the brocade over the brilliant petticoat with a smile to think +what Barry would say. Not for a moment did she believe Richard would be +caught; he had the start, and he knew the country much better than his +pursuers, and would outstrip them in the race.</p> + +<p>It was a brilliant company that assembled in her drawing-room that +night,—handsome women <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>and splendid officers, and even Cornwallis +himself,—all come to enjoy her hospitality and to inquire concerning +her accident of the afternoon.</p> + +<p>“Asked you the name of this brave fellow who saved you?” inquired the +commander-in-chief, with a smile. “Methinks he should be promoted for so +signal a service to his Majesty’s loyal subject.”</p> + +<p>“Nay, your lordship, I asked it not,” Joscelyn answered steadily.</p> + +<p>“’Twas the fright made her seem so ungrateful,” put in her mother.</p> + +<p>“And small wonder, Mistress Cheshire, for she was in dire straits. But +’tis of no consequence; the name can be easily ascertained, and I shall +myself make the inquiries. Half my staff are mad with jealousy at his +good fortune, and methinks I myself envy him a bit the sweet thanks he +will receive. Now if Mistress Joscelyn’s nerves be not too much shaken, +we will have some music.”</p> + +<p>So the spinet was opened; and the merriment began and went on far into +the night, while the Cleverings over the way fretted behind their closed +doors in bitter resentment of Joscelyn’s conduct.</p> + +<p>“Why, she is actually playing at cards!” cried Betty, who was secretly +on the lookout, for the opposite shutters had not been closed nor the +curtains drawn, so the inmates of the lighted room were in plain view. +“Lord Cornwallis is her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>partner, but that Captain Barry sits beside her +and whispers behind her cards. Mary Singleton is at the other table, but +I do not see—” her voice trailed off into silence, for she never +mentioned Eustace’s name to her mother.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Joscelyn was all unconscious and unmindful of this +surveillance and, recovering from her fright, her spirits rose hourly +until she had quite regained her accustomed manner. It was not until +something after ten o’clock that an interruption befell their +pleasure-taking. Then suddenly there came the sound of galloping hoofs +down the stony street; many voices shouted and responded, a pistol shot +rang out, and from somewhere under the darkness a guttural drum growled +out its warning. Every man in the room was on his feet in an instant, +and hands snatched for hats and weapons.</p> + +<p>“It is a night surprise!” cried a dozen voices; but even at that moment +the door was thrown open, and an orderly, bowing low, cried out to the +general that the noise was being made by his own men, who had turned a +spy back from the mountains, and chased him into the town where he was +as a rat in a trap, and must immediately be taken. Every heart in the +room ceased its mad beating with relief at this news—every heart but +one. Joscelyn could feel hers pounding against her ribs, and +involuntarily she moved to the window and looked at the dark house +opposite, shuddering as she thought of the grief so soon to enter there.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p><p>In ten minutes the hue and cry had swept down the street, and only faint +echoes came back upon the wind. The whole town was astir, and Joscelyn’s +guests lingered a few minutes on the veranda, questioning those who came +and went.</p> + +<p>“Yes, he went straight down this street, riding like one possessed,” +said one man to Barry.</p> + +<p>“He has quit his horse, and the guard have captured it,” cried out a +messenger a moment later.</p> + +<p>“Ah, well; then will they soon have the man too, even though they search +every house, barn, and hen-coop in the town; Colonel Tarleton does +nothing by halves,” laughed his lordship. “Come, Mistress Cheshire, let +us back to our game; ere we end it, the fellow will be in the toils.”</p> + +<p>They went slowly back into the house, Joscelyn striving to steady her +nerves by long, deep breaths; but as they drew their chairs again about +the tables, there came from the story above a crash as of breaking +chinaware. Everybody looked up expectant, and Mistress Cheshire rose.</p> + +<p>“I will go,” cried Joscelyn, glad to escape, and pushing her mother +gently back into her chair. “’Tis no doubt that troublesome cat again; +he broke one of my flower jars last week.” She tripped upstairs, calling +back to his lordship to deal and have the hands ready for she would be +absent only a moment.</p> + +<p>In the upper hall all was silence and semi-darkness. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>She went first to +her own room, pausing just long enough to press her hands hard upon her +temples before passing from it to her mother’s, calling the cat the +while very softly. A fire of logs burned in her mother’s fireplace, so +that she wondered at the cold breath of air that smote her as she +entered; then she started,—a back window was open and the pot of plants +which had stood upon the ledge lay shattered on the floor. A swift +annoyance flashed upon her at the maid’s neglect, so that she went +forward and closed the sash with a spirited promptness. Picking up a bit +of the broken shard, and facing about from the window in search of the +cat, she suddenly became aware of a man’s figure in the shadowy corner +opposite. Instinctively she opened her mouth for a nervous cry, but with +an imperative gesture for silence, he stepped forward, and even in the +dim light she knew it was Richard Clevering. The scream died upon her +lips, and for a moment the objects in the room spun before her.</p> + +<p>“You—<i>you</i>?” and even in whispering her voice was strained and shaken.</p> + +<p>“Yes; it was this or death—they had run me to the wall.”</p> + +<p>“But the house is full of British soldiers—Lord Cornwallis and his +whole staff—”</p> + +<p>“So much the better; the place will be above suspicion.”</p> + +<p>“Mistress Joscelyn, Mistress Joscelyn!” cried a dozen voices from below, +while chairs were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>being pushed about, and some one struck a few notes +on the spinet.</p> + +<p>“And I myself, sir, am a true Loyalist and cannot harbour—”</p> + +<p>There was a footstep on the stair. “Mistress Joscelyn, we be coming up +to help you catch the cat!” cried Barry’s voice.</p> + +<p>Richard sprang toward her, “My God, Joscelyn! you will not give me up +like that?”</p> + +<p>But the steps were halfway up the stair, and she was already turning the +knob of the door, her face like marble in the leaping firelight.</p> + +<p><a name="illo5" id="illo5"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 325px;"> +<img src="images/i238.jpg" width="325" class="ispace" height="500" alt="“‘MY GOD, JOSCELYN, YOU WILL NOT GIVE ME UP LIKE THAT!’”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“‘MY GOD, JOSCELYN, YOU WILL NOT GIVE ME UP LIKE THAT!’”</span> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<h3>“SEARCH MY LADY’S WARDROBE.”</h3> + +<div class="centerbox2 bbox"><p>“Sweetheart? not she whose voice was music-sweet,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whose face loaned language to melodious prayer;</span><br /> +Sweetheart I called her.—When did she repeat<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sweet to one hope or heart to one despair?”</span></p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Cawein.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>o the man crouching behind the door which Joscelyn had left open, the +minute it took her to traverse the hall and gain the head of the stairs +at the far end, seemed a lifetime. Even in his dire peril the thought of +a bygone day came back to him—“loyal, though a Loyalist,” he had said +of her, and had believed it. What a sweetheart to have coddled in one’s +thoughts and dreamed of, waking and sleeping,—this girl who would in +cold blood hand him over to death because of a fancied duty! Escape by +the way he came was impossible; he could only wait here and sell his +life at the highest price. Ay, there should be left in this room a +memory that would exile her from it forever; the blood that had beat for +her and which she had betrayed, should redden her floor and stain the +dainty things she loved.</p> + +<p>His sword had been thrown away when he quitted his horse, since it +cumbered his flight; but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>his pistols and dirk were still upon him, and +he made ready for their use. Then through the crevice of the hinge, he +beheld Joscelyn as she faced about in the brighter light at the head of +the stairs, and the weapon well-nigh slipped from his hand as he saw her +hold up the bit of shard she still carried, and say, with a smile, to +those below:—</p> + +<p>“’Tis not worth while your coming. What need to waste time on the +senseless offender when the offence is beyond repair? My very last +flowering almond is a hopeless wreck, and I had nursed it with such +care!” She ended with a sigh and a pretty pout, and went slowly down the +stair out of Richard’s sight; but the voices from below reached him +distinctly, so that he heard the officers’ condolences and her laughing +replies. Great drops of perspiration broke out upon his brow as the +joyous truth dawned fully upon him.</p> + +<p>She did not intend to betray his presence in the house to the +scarlet-coated bloodhounds who would tear him limb from limb!</p> + +<p>How could he ever have mistrusted her, this one woman whom he had loved +with the passion of youth and of manhood? He sank to a sitting posture +upon the floor, propping himself against the wall, for he was +desperately weary with the long, hard chase, and this relief was as the +opening of Paradise before his aching eyes. His limbs relaxed; but his +ears were strained to catch every sound that came up the stairway. The +game of cards <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>had been renewed, and the merriment was at its height, +when twenty minutes later there was again a commotion in the street and +a loud summons at the door.</p> + +<p>“May it please your lordship,” said Tarleton’s voice, “the fellow hath +give us the slip and is in hiding with some of his sympathizers. We wish +a permit to search the houses in this neighbourhood, for hereabouts he +must be, since he was seen last at yonder corner.”</p> + +<p>There arose a perfect Babel of voices, out of which Richard could make +nothing clearly; but he knew the permit was given, for in a few minutes +Tarleton opened the street-door, and ordered his men to begin the search +at the house on the lower corner, and proceed thence up the street, +missing no dwelling. Every other street and alley in the town had been +sentinelled, so he assured Cornwallis.</p> + +<p>The soldiers at the door dispersed, and a breathless silence filled the +house. Richard dared not move lest his stiff joints pop, or his boots +creak and betray him. He knew flight was impossible; for there was a +stamping of horses in the rear court, proving that the house was +surrounded. It were wiser to wait and face the fate that came to him, +than go out to meet it on the way.</p> + +<p>The minutes that followed seemed interminable. He felt that his doom was +sealed, and then there came upon him an overmastering desire to hear +Joscelyn’s voice once more. Why did she not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>come to him on some feigned +pretext or other? Surely she must know how he suffered! Death were not +so hard to meet, if he could but first hold her in his arms and hear her +say some tender word.</p> + +<p>Then the noise in the street grew louder, and he knew that the search +was drawing near. His nerves were strained to tautness, when presently +he heard the party stop in the street below, and a voice downstairs +cried out gayly:—</p> + +<p>“They be going to call upon your kinsfolk, the Cleverings, Mistress +Joscelyn. Let us out to the balcony and see the fun.”</p> + +<p>In the confusion of scraping chairs and opening doors, Richard got to +his feet. The cold and weariness in his limbs were forgotten in anxiety +for his mother. A-tiptoe he crossed the room in the shadow of the +furniture and gained Joscelyn’s front window,—that window out of which +he had seen her lean in her scarlet bodice the day he marched away so +long ago. It was an easy thing to hide himself in the folds of the heavy +curtains which had been drawn for the night; and thus concealed, to +watch, through a crescent slit in the blind, the scene below, for the +veranda was open with no roof to intervene.</p> + +<p>It was full moon, and the figures in the street, twenty men-at-arms, +were plainly visible. Three of these passed silently to the rear of his +mother’s house, while the others drew up in line before the door. Then +the leader smote the panels until they rang like a drum. Twice was the +summons repeated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>ere a voice from an upper window demanded what might +be the matter.</p> + +<p>“Matter enough that I knock,” replied the man, so insolently that +Richard’s blood took fire, for every word could be distinctly heard from +his coign of vantage.</p> + +<p>“Nay, we be but two lone women in this house, and we open not but to the +proper authorities.”</p> + +<p>“Well, and we be the authorities,” answered the man less rudely, for +there was that in Mistress Clevering’s voice that brought him to his +senses. “We have here an order from the commander-in-chief to search +this house for a rebel spy. Open the door and read the writ for +yourself.”</p> + +<p>The window above was closed, and presently the click of the lock was +heard, and then the door opened partially and Mistress Clevering, candle +in hand, stood before them. Betty cowered behind like a frightened +child.</p> + +<p>“No one is here save my daughter and myself; to search the house were +wasted time.” And in her heart, Joscelyn thanked Heaven she could speak +thus truly; but the soldier said brusquely:—</p> + +<p>“We have judged the matter differently; lead the way, and see to it that +you open every door. We will put up with no deception.”</p> + +<p>As they passed into the house, Joscelyn’s voice from over the way cried +out shrilly, “Neglect not to search the closet by the attic chimney; +’tis just of a size to hold a man, and perchance contains him whom you +seek.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p><p>Mistress Clevering turned angrily toward the door as though she would +answer, but the soldiers urged her on, and so it was Betty who called +back:—</p> + +<p>“That is neighbourly! Tell all you know about your best friends, +Mistress Ingrate; we have naught to fear.”</p> + +<p>At this Joscelyn laughed loudly, but to Richard the laugh was more +hysterical than mirthful, like one under a great nervous strain. He felt +his hands involuntarily groping for his pistols, as the opposite light +flashed from window to window and he knew his mother was being ordered +about by those insolent Redcoats. The candle lingered longest in the +attic; but at last it descended, and soon the disappointed soldiers +stood in the street empty handed. Tarleton was furious and swore a great +oath, but the soldiers protested they had overlooked no nook or corner +where a man might conceal himself.</p> + +<p>“’Tis a bootless errand, sir; unless, indeed, the man be in this house,” +said Tarleton, riding up to Joscelyn’s door. “What say you, shall we +search here also?”</p> + +<p>Upstairs Richard’s heart stood still, while down below Joscelyn’s head +swam. Then her laugh rippled out mockingly.</p> + +<p>“Truly, your lordship, that is a reflection upon you and those of your +gallant officers who have done me the honour to spend the evening under +my roof! I pray you, gentlemen all, turn your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>pockets wrong side out +that Colonel Tarleton may be sure you have not hidden his spy.”</p> + +<p>“I jest not, mistress,” answered Tarleton, who owed her a grudge in that +she had manifested much personal dislike to himself. “What says your +lordship?”</p> + +<p>Cornwallis started to reply, and then hesitated; whereupon Joscelyn +broke in haughtily:—</p> + +<p>“An your lordship doubts my loyalty, pray let the search proceed—the +doors are open.”</p> + +<p>“Ay, search; and fail not to look in my Lady Ingrate’s wardrobe; ’tis +just of a size to hold a man,” came with a scornful laugh from over the +way; for Betty was still at her door, and the street was not so wide but +that the opposite voices reached her clearly.</p> + +<p>“Of course,” said Joscelyn, with the same haughty dignity; “search the +wardrobe by all means; here are the keys.” She threw the bunch at +Tarleton’s feet, calling to her mother to do the same, and then walked +into the hall, her head up and her eyes aglow. Richard could not see +her, and so ground his teeth in an impotent rage that she would thus +tamely yield him up. But the next moment he guessed her purpose, +realizing this was her surest way to avert suspicion, and he blessed her +under his breath. If they found him, they should never know that she had +for a moment connived at his concealment.</p> + +<p>Tarleton stooped to pick up the keys, but Cornwallis interposed.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p><p>“Nay, sir; to search this house would be an affront to so loyal a +subject as Mistress Joscelyn. Besides, the idea that the miscreant is +hiding here is preposterous. He must have seen us through the windows, +and to enter would have been to rush into the lion’s jaws. Spies as a +rule are wise men; not the fools of an army. Search the stable if you +will, leave a guard in the alley; but enter not the house. And now, +Mistress Cheshire, I see the ladies are going; we will also withdraw +after returning thanks to you and your daughter for your charming +hospitality.”</p> + +<p>Richard clutched at the window-frame to steady himself as he realized +the present peril had passed. What a glorious girl Joscelyn was, for all +her Toryism and scoffing!</p> + +<p>Joscelyn stood at the door, courtesying to her departing guests,—the +picture of dainty, decorous hospitality. As Tarleton lifted his hat +sullenly, she looked him straight in the eyes, and said graciously:—</p> + +<p>“I will leave this door unbolted, that your sentry may come in and warm +himself by the fire in the rear room as the night grows chilly.”</p> + +<p>To doubt her after that were impossible; and he excused his former +brusqueness by saying a soldier’s duty was oftentimes most displeasing +to himself. She accepted the apology with a smile, and stood in the door +until they all, even Barry, who was always tardy over his leave-taking, +had gotten to horse; and then with a final good night, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>she shut them +out. She did not stop in the hall, but went straight on to the stair, +saying to her mother as she ran up:—</p> + +<p>“Will you see to the lights down here, mother? I will go up and look +after your fire.”</p> + +<p>This was a reversal of the usual order of things, but her mother was too +used to her caprices to take any notice. In the room above, Richard had +already replenished the fire, and was waiting for her on the rug with +eager, outstretched arms.</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn!” he cried; but she silenced him with a gesture.</p> + +<p>“Quick—off with your boots—mother must not know; there will be further +inquiry to-morrow, and for very anxiety she could not keep the secret. +Now, come.” In the hall she leaned over the banister to ask her mother +to leave something on the table for the sentry to eat; and when the old +lady was gone back to the pantry, Joscelyn unlocked the door of the +shed-like attic at the rear of the hall, and giving Richard the lighted +candle she held, she pushed him in. “There are plenty of blankets on the +shelves at the far end—make your bed on a pile of carpet that is behind +the cedar chest.”</p> + +<p>“But, Joscelyn—”</p> + +<p>“H-u-s-h, not so loud. As you know, the attic has no windows, so your +candle cannot be seen outside. There is mother—I will come back if I +can.”</p> + +<p>She was gone, and he knew that she had locked <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>the door from without. +Along with his sense of relief came an exquisite joy that he was her +prisoner, that it was she who must minister to him,—she to whom he owed +his life. It was some minutes before he remembered her injunction and +set to work to make himself comfortable. He left the candle on the floor +beside his boots and, wrapping himself in the blankets, found a cosey +resting-place behind the big cedar chest. What thoughts and visions +crowded his mind as he lay there under the spider-hung rafters that +dropped almost to his head! Five days before he had quitted his +command—impelled by a thirsty desire to see Joscelyn’s face—to +undertake the dangerous mission of his chief, and ascertain Cornwallis’s +actual strength. Unable to learn anything definite by hearsay, and +catching idle rumours of Joscelyn’s popularity among the English +officers, the daring design had come to him to play the part of a +Loyalist seeking enlistment in the British army, trusting to what little +disguise he could add to his own altered looks to shield him. Following +out this plan, and gaining at the parade all the knowledge necessary, he +had stolen from the field, and would have effected his escape had he but +taken the longer bridle-path around the mountain, rather than the +shorter one directly over it. Joscelyn’s accident had delayed him +somewhat, and trusting to his citizen’s dress, and the preoccupation of +the whole force at the parade, he had thought to be beyond sight or +pursuit ere the review was over. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>That his reckoning failed, has been +already shown. Tarleton’s henchmen, set on by Linsey, had headed him off +and driven him back into the town. Passed through the peril, and strong +man that he was, he yet shuddered as he thought how near to death he had +been when he leaped from his horse at the corner yonder, and with a +fierce cut sent the animal as a decoy down the dark adjacent street, +while he plunged into the shadowy alley. At Mistress Cheshire’s rear +gate he had recognized his bearings, and entering without hesitation, he +had crossed the yard, and by means of a grape-trellis climbed to the +roof of the rear porch. To open the window was not difficult, but in +entering he had upset that flower jar and betrayed his presence. He had +heard the talk and laughter as he climbed up, and guessed who Joscelyn’s +guests were; but he trusted to her mother to hide him. How infinitely +sweeter it was to know that, instead, it was her own hand that had saved +him.</p> + +<p>For nearly an hour he lay thus, stretched at full length upon the +restful pallet. Then, all at once, although he was conscious of no +sound, he felt that she had come. Rising hastily, he met her as she +slipped through the half-opened door. She shaded her eyes for a moment +to concentrate the light, the candle was so dim; then crossing over to +the chest, she placed on it a platter of food and a pitcher of milk.</p> + +<p>“You must be half famished;” and although but a whisper, her voice was +studiously polite. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>“I have brought you ample supply; for it may be late +ere you get your breakfast in the morning, seeing I have to smuggle it +to you.”</p> + +<p>Never had he seen her so beautiful. The shining brocade set off every +curve of her figure; under the lace of her bodice her bosom rose and +fell with suppressed excitement, and her eyes were full of the starry +lights he knew so well. And yet there was something about her that held +in check the fire that leaped through his pulses. For the first time as +he gazed thus upon her, he realized fully the menace he had brought upon +her.</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn, I should never have come here.”</p> + +<p>“It was, as you said, your only chance.”</p> + +<p>“I should not have taken that chance; rather I should have died beside +my horse before bringing this danger to you.”</p> + +<p>“Hush! they will not harm me.” Her head went up with a little triumphant +fling as she said this; for she was thinking of Barry, and how, if +detection came, he would surely save her.</p> + +<p>“You do not know the penalty one pays for harbouring a spy; I will go +this very night and free you from this menace.”</p> + +<p>“No, no,” was the hasty answer. “We should both be undone—Tarleton’s +men will watch the house all night. To-morrow night perchance, or the +night after; but not to-night. You are safe here for the present, for +his lordship’s orders will be obeyed.”</p> + +<p>He came close to her, so close that he saw the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>pallor of her face, and +the perfume of her dress rose with a sweet intoxication to his nostrils. +“Joscelyn, is it for love of me that you have done this thing?”</p> + +<p>“No.”</p> + +<p>“For what, then?”</p> + +<p>“For sake of our old comradeship and for Betty. Besides, you saved my +life this afternoon—a return of favours leaves no burden of obligation +on either of us.”</p> + +<p>“Nay; you risk more for me than I did for you.”</p> + +<p>She shrugged her shoulders. “The accounts balance.” Then glancing about +solicitously, she added, “I would I could make you more comfortable, but +our first care must be to avert suspicion. Good night.”</p> + +<p>She was moving to the door, but he caught her wrists just below the +hanging lace of her sleeve; and holding her thus, he told her in a few +graphic sentences all his thoughts as he had rested under the rafters +behind the chest—the reason and the history of his scouting venture, +the mental trysts he had held with her so often. All the intensity of +his strong nature went into that appeal; it seemed as if a heart of ice +must have melted in it; and for a moment her head did droop and her +hands tremble, then she shrugged her gleaming shoulders again, saying:—</p> + +<p>“It had certainly been more soldier-like to have come for love of your +cause, rather than for sake of a girl’s eyes.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p><p>“For sake of both did I come.”</p> + +<p>“A spy—”</p> + +<p>But she got no further; something in her tone stung him to the quick. +“You need not speak so disparagingly. A spy’s work may not be pleasant, +but it is absolutely necessary. Without the information he sends his +general, false steps might be taken and hundreds of lives needlessly +sacrificed. A spy has a humane as well as a dangerous mission.”</p> + +<p>“’Tis well you think so highly of your calling. Good night again.”</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn, do not leave me thus; this day we have each looked into the +eyes of death—let us at least part as friends.”</p> + +<p>She turned back, her face dimpling with a smile that was like a gleam of +sunshine, “Good night, Richard, and a safe awakening.”</p> + +<p>Then she was gone; and he threw himself down to sleep the sleep of utter +weariness.</p> + +<p>Joscelyn sat on the rug before her almost burned-out fire, trying to +disengage the attic key from the big bunch her mother habitually wore at +her belt, and thinking rapidly of the events of the day. She knew that +the end had not been reached, but she was determined to brave it out; +there was nothing else to do,—there had been nothing else from the +first. And she must stand alone. Fresh inquiry would be instituted +to-morrow, and her mother’s veracity could not stand the strain to which +it might be put if she knew <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>all. Neither could the secret be shared +with Aunt Clevering, for her mother-heart might betray its anxiety, and +so would another family be involved. She must bear the burden herself; +must evade, pretend, even <i>lie</i>, if need be, to keep the knowledge from +any one else. The man had fled to her for sanctuary; which were worse, +she asked herself bitterly, to soil her lips with an untruth, or her +hands with a betrayal, a breach of trust and of hospitality? From Betty +and Aunt Clevering she could expect no mercy of neglect, because of that +hasty speech about the attic closet. It had been made thoughtlessly, to +establish her own footing more securely by a great show of loyalty; but +would, she knew, act as a two-edged sword, cutting away part of her +safety. To-morrow she would not dare leave the house all day lest +something terrible transpire in her absence; she must feign some pretext +for staying indoors—perchance a headache from the effects of her +fright.</p> + +<p>And then having planned her course fully and carefully, woman-like she +began to cry tempestuously at the position in which she found herself; +blaming with equally unreasoning impatience the band, Richard, and her +horse for her predicament. If she were only a Whig, doing this thing for +her country, or else if she were but in love with Richard, how +beautiful, how romantic, it would all be! But—but—</p> + +<p>And even after she was in bed, she went on sobbing softly to herself.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h3>IN TARLETON’S TOILS.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox2 bbox"><p>“The brave man is not he who feels no fear,<br /> +For that were stupid and irrational;<br /> +But he whose noble soul its fear subdues,<br /> +And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from.”</p> + +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Joanna Baillie.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">A</span>fter a troubled sleep that brought little rest, Joscelyn opened her +eyes on what she supposed would be a day of danger,—certainly a day of +small deceptions. But in one way fortune favoured her; the morning was +cold and raw, with now and then a flurry of snow, so she would have no +occasion to leave the house, and need worry over no excuse for biding at +home. But the early hours were full of quavers and starts; the least +quick noise sent her blood racing through its channels. Her first real +fright came when the guard in the back yard discovered bits of fresh mud +upon the trellis of the porch.</p> + +<p>“’Tis nothing,” she said, with a touch of asperity when he showed it to +her; “the maid threw a broken flower pot from the upper window, and this +earth was no doubt spilled out as it fell—there are the remnants of the +jar by the fence.”</p> + +<p>The guard bowed and withdrew; but there was a supercilious smile on his +face, which filled her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>with nervous apprehension. In a hasty resentment +that the man perhaps guessed at her duplicity, she could have struck +him.</p> + +<p>And yet a second time was she thrown into consternation, when her mother +discovered the loss of the attic key from her bunch.</p> + +<p>“Oh, it is not lost! I broke the string yesterday night, and doubtless I +missed this one when I strung them up again. It is in my room this +minute, I dare swear. Is there aught you need in the attic now?”</p> + +<p>“Nay, I but feared the key was lost.”</p> + +<p>“Well, let me first finish this round of knitting and I will hunt it. +Mother,” she went on, after a pause, during which she picked up her +stitches industriously, “had you not better go over and make my peace +with Aunt Clevering? She was most angry with me last night.”</p> + +<p>“And good cause she had, Joscelyn; methinks I never heard any one make +so rude a speech. What put you to it?”</p> + +<p>“In faith, mother, I cannot tell. It was cruel and unwarranted, and you +may tell her I say so, and that I am bitterly sorry. Make any excuse you +please, only make it at once, for you know Aunt Clevering’s displeasure +grows like a mushroom when left to itself.”</p> + +<p>She had small hope that her aunt would be appeased, but she wanted her +mother out of the way that she might carry her prisoner something to +eat. It was close upon one o’clock, and not a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>morsel had she been able +to give him. She drew the bolt of the front door after her mother, who +was nothing loath to go upon this peace errand; and hurrying to the +dining room, made hasty preparation to relieve Richard’s needs. She was +not used to doing things upon the sly, and her heart was in hot +rebellion that she must stoop to such a thing among her own servants. +There were hard lines of determination about her mouth, but the hands +that sliced the meat and buttered the bread shook a little. Even when on +the stair, she turned back, startled by a sound in the hall; but it was +only the cat romping with her little ones, and so once more she went on. +Softly she unlocked the attic door, and stepped in. The room was in +partial twilight, having no window, but she saw Richard coming to meet +her.</p> + +<p>“No May-day sunshine was ever half so welcome,” he whispered, taking her +hand in both of his. “Tell me how matters have gone this morning. I have +fretted myself into a fever lest I bring some annoyance upon you. And +now you must promise me that if discovery comes, you will forswear all +knowledge of my being here. I shall claim that the key was in the lock, +and after I was inside, some one came and closed the door. Thus will you +be free from blame.”</p> + +<p>“And think you any one will believe so flimsy a story? Nay, the only +safety for either of us lies in your not being discovered. I understand +that Tarleton is furious over his failure, and has <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>already ordered a +new search. I rely upon my own loyalty, and upon his lordship’s order +for our exemption. But if the worst comes, we must be prepared.”</p> + +<p>“I am.” He touched his pistols and drew himself up until his magnificent +figure was at perfect pose. “I shall die, Joscelyn, but like a soldier; +not on the gallows.”</p> + +<p>She shuddered, and her eyes lost their coldness; the woman in her was +touched by his cool courage in face of such a danger.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” she said, with a hesitating gentleness, “but I pray it come not +to that. By being prepared I meant we must leave no tell-tale traces +here such as these,”—she pointed to the platter and pitcher. “I shall +take these away; your dinner I have brought in this bit of paper—leave +no crumbs when you have finished. This jug contains water and this +bottle wine; stand them in that corner with those empty bottles, and +they will attract no attention.”</p> + +<p>“It shall be done, Joscelyn.”</p> + +<p>“Watch under the door; if there is an order given to search the house, I +will try and warn you by a note.”</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn, desperate as I was, I should have sought some other shelter, +had I not thought your loyalty would put your house beyond the shadow of +suspicion. Will you not say you forgive me before you go? We may never +meet again.”</p> + +<p>“There is nothing to forgive; you but put it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>in my power to requite an +obligation,” she said very gently.</p> + +<p>“That is scarce a pardon. I would have you speak as though the +forgiveness came from your heart, rather than from your head. Between us +there can be no question of a debt; my love makes me your bondservant, +and as such my service is yours rightfully.”</p> + +<p>“Your name is not known,” she broke in hastily, “but I understand it is +suspected that my rescuer of yesterday is the escaped spy.”</p> + +<p>“That accounts for Tarleton’s doubt of you. Joscelyn, I will not stay +here a moment longer and expose you thus. My mother’s house has already +been searched—”</p> + +<p>“And will be again ere nightfall. What you propose is folly,—worse than +folly; it is death to you and betrayal to me. There are double guards +everywhere, for Colonel Tarleton is as much policeman as soldier. You +could not leave this house and cross the street alive!”</p> + +<p>“Then what must I do?”</p> + +<p>“Why, in sooth, since you cannot go, you must remain.” There was just a +touch in her voice and smile which made him think of their early days of +quarrel and make-up. It was such an intoxicating change from her manner +of a moment ago that he lost his head and caught her for a moment in his +strong arms. But she broke away, and gathering up the pitcher and +platter prepared to go.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p><p>“There is just one thing,” she said hesitatingly, “your despatches—?” +He tapped his forehead. Again she paused irresolutely, the colour coming +and going in her delicate cheeks. “I am saving you, not your despatches; +do you understand?”</p> + +<p>“You do not mean—?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, I mean that Greene must learn nothing from you if you escape.”</p> + +<p>But his hand was over her mouth before she could go on. “You cannot make +a request so unworthy of you and of me! Think you for one instant that I +would buy my safety with the information that may save my comrades? No, +no, Joscelyn dear; you did not ask such a thing of me, for you would not +dishonour me, although you say you do not love me. I make no such +bargain with you; either I carry my despatches to my general, or I walk +out of your house this minute, and let the first ball that can hit me +put an end to my life.”</p> + +<p>His hand was on the door, but she dragged him back; her face like ashes. +“No, no, Richard; I will not ask it—indeed, I will not!”</p> + +<p>Silently he kissed the hand upon his sleeve, and as they stood thus +looking into each other’s eyes, there came a sharp rapping at the door +below. She went deathly pale for a moment, then waving him back, she +stepped out into the hallway.</p> + +<p>“It is only mother,” she said, after listening a moment; “she has been +over to Aunt Clevering’s <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>to make my peace for last night’s rudeness. +What I said was in desperation; I know not what evil genius put me to +it.”</p> + +<p>He took her hand reverently for a moment. “’Twas no evil genius, but a +brave spirit of self-sacrifice.”</p> + +<p>She locked the door, and went down the stair singing. At the foot she +called out, “Coming, mother!” and ran to hide the dishes she carried, +then back to the door and undid it, still singing her merry ditty.</p> + +<p>“Why should you bolt the door, my daughter, seeing I was to be gone only +a few minutes?”</p> + +<p>“I was upstairs straightening things a bit, and the town is so full of +confusion that I felt a trifle nervous.”</p> + +<p>“But here was the sentinel to protect you.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I quite forgot him!” she smiled with deprecating politeness at the +sentinel, who had paused at the steps and was watching her with an ugly +frown upon his sullen face. He touched his hat with a shrug, and moved +on upon his beat.</p> + +<p>But a new terror came to the girl; evidently the man suspected her, and +of course his suspicion would be carried to Tarleton. Why had she +lingered upstairs talking with Richard? Everything she did worked the +wrong way. Would the day never end? She strove to make amends for her +false step by singing Tory songs as she went about the house, and by +sending the guard a dainty luncheon. It was perhaps an hour before <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>she +remembered to ask her mother the result of her interview with Aunt +Clevering.</p> + +<p>“Oh, but I had a sad scene of it! Joscelyn, your tongue will be the ruin +of us; I know it, I know it! Neighbour after neighbour has taken offence +at your outspoken Toryism; and now Ann Clevering, dear to me as a +sister, says she hopes you will never darken her door again. And if you +go not, why, neither can I; and so I am cut off from my best friend by +your unneighbourly caprice! And think what we have been to each other!” +Here sobs choked the unhappy woman’s utterance, and she could only turn +her eyes reproachfully upon her daughter.</p> + +<p>Joscelyn was deeply moved, as she always was, to wound her mother; but +she put the best face possible on it in order to cheer the disconsolate +old lady.</p> + +<p>“There, mother dear, ’tis not worth crying over. Not go to see Aunt +Clevering because I cannot go? Why, that is nonsense. Of course you will +go, and she will come here just the same. I will keep out of her way +until she forgives me—for she will forgive me, never you fear. I am not +surprised at her anger, but it will all come out right in the end; so +don’t cry, little mother, you break my heart with your tears.”</p> + +<p>But in her heart was serious question whether she would ever again be +received upon friendly footing in the house over the way, which had been +to her as a second home. She would never <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>tell that she had made that +speech to turn inquiry from her own house, where Richard was hiding; and +she now doubted much if he would escape to tell the story himself. She +sang no more that afternoon, but sat silently over her knitting. The +weather did not tend to mend her spirits; for the drizzle of the morning +had turned into a steady downpour, and the wind moaned about the gables +and up the throat of the wide chimney like a lost spirit hopelessly +seeking its reincarnation. Her mother was still brooding over the break +with the Cleverings, and now and then lifting her kerchief to her face +in a gesture that was a reproach to Joscelyn, who strove not to see it; +and yet she watched for it persistently out of the tail of her eye. She +grew more miserable each moment; and so hailed with delight the entrance +of Barry and a fellow-officer, who had come to bask in the warmth of her +smile.</p> + +<p>“Your visit is a charity, gentlemen,” she said gayly, as she gave them +chairs; “this weather serves one’s spirits and one’s ruffles alike, in +that it leaves them both limp and frowsy.”</p> + +<p>“Your mother seems more out of sorts than you.”</p> + +<p>“Yes; mother is doing penance for my sin of last night, Captain Barry.”</p> + +<p>“Your sin? Why, methinks you never committed anything more heinous than +a misdemeanour. Come, make me your confessor, and I promise you complete +and immediate absolution.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p><p>“’Tis not your absolution, but Mistress Clevering’s that I need; she has +excommunicated me for telling of the attic closet,” she spoke with an +air of mock penitence that set her visitors off in a roar.</p> + +<p>But Mistress Cheshire stopped them with a fresh burst of tears, “’Tis no +matter for jesting with me, sirs. I am a subject of King George and wish +him well, but he cannot take the place of Ann Clevering in my heart!”</p> + +<p>“True, true,” said Joscelyn, still with her air of pretence, only now it +was playful; “she loves her king, but, you see, she lives not neighbours +with him; and so, forsooth, she cannot compare her loaves with his on a +baking day, nor ask the loan of his pie pans, nor offer her mixing bowl +in return. Ah, gentlemen, there is a homely charm in proximity of which +the poets wot not!”</p> + +<p>And so the talk ran on for a few minutes, and the visitors agreed they +had never found Mistress Joscelyn so charming or so witty. Then they +fell to talking of the military news, of Tarleton’s determination to +ferret out the hidden spy, and of the burning of the Reverend Hugh +McAden’s library by that division of the army stationed at Red House, a +few miles distant. To all of the first she listened with an outward show +of indifference, but with an inward quaking. The other news interested +her less; but for obvious reasons was also less embarrassing.</p> + +<p>“I pray you, Captain Barry, why should the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>soldiers burn the reverend +gentleman’s library? ’Twas innocent enough, and he himself has been dead +this twelvemonth.”</p> + +<p>“Well, they found from his books he was a Presbyterian; and being that, +he must perforce be also a rebel.”</p> + +<p>“And they consigned his books to the same fate they believed him to be +enjoying—the fire? Pray you, sir, were the flames <i>blue</i>? Being the +very essence of Presbyterianism, they should have been blue, you know.”</p> + +<p>“Capital! I shall tell his lordship of your excellent joke.”</p> + +<p>She hated herself for her little pleasantry, for she had sincerely +admired the minister, whom she had known since childhood; but she must +keep up a show of gayety, that these young men might carry a good report +of her to headquarters.</p> + +<p>With the growing cloudiness the day was visibly shortened. Joscelyn, +glancing now and then at the window, watched the going of the light with +secret satisfaction. Already the opposite houses were becoming +indistinct, and as the shadows grew apace, just in proportion did her +spirits rise; the danger was drifting away, and the man upstairs now had +a chance for life. But just as she was congratulating herself that the +ordeal was past, there came a trampling of hoofs at the door; and +Tarleton’s voice, giving some order, made her realize that the crisis +had perchance but just now come. For one awful moment the power of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>motion forsook her; then with a masterly effort at calmness, she +said:—</p> + +<p>“Mother, entertain the gentlemen while I see why Samuel does not bring +the lights.”</p> + +<p>She managed to walk with becoming leisure to the parlour door; but once +outside she almost flew up the stairs. Down on her knees before the fire +in her room, she wrote rapidly upon a scrap of paper:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Be ready. Tarleton has come. They shall search <i>my room first</i>; +that must be your refuge. When I open the attic door, stand thou +close behind it; I will direct attention to the chest and shelves +at the far end—then, if any, is your chance.”</p></div> + +<p>She rose to her feet; the hall below was full of manly voices, above +which her mother called, “Joscelyn, Joscelyn, come at once, here are +more visitors.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, mother.” Then with a crash she dropped the key basket, which she +had snatched up, just in front of the attic door, and while gathering up +the spilled keys with one hand, she slipped the note under the door with +the other, and instantly felt it grasped and drawn away to the other +side. She knew Richard could read it by means of his tinder-box. Then +flinging the keys into the basket, she ran downstairs. As she entered +the parlour, and saw before the hearth the short, square figure of +Tarleton, the tremor passed out of her limbs. All day she had been +starting and quaking; now in the presence of the real danger, she was +calm and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>collected. She greeted the colonel with a fair show of +hospitality, and fell immediately to talking of those ill-fated volumes +of McAden. It was anything to gain time that the last lingering daylight +might go. Tarleton let her run on for a few minutes, even let Barry +repeat her poor little joke about the blue flames; then he cleared his +throat and began:—</p> + +<p>“Mistress Joscelyn, it behooves—”</p> + +<p>But she interrupted him. “Why, dear me, did not mother give you a cup of +tea? You must have one at once to kill that cold in your throat. What a +terrible ride you must have had to-day in this storm. A soldier’s life +is indeed a hard one, and nobly does he win the fame which illumines his +name! Two lumps, or three? Ah, you have a sweet tooth.”</p> + +<p>But she could not stave him off after he had drained his cup. She wanted +to tell him how they came by the tea since the tax had stopped its sale, +but he cut her short.</p> + +<p>“Another time, Mistress Joscelyn, I shall be glad to listen to your +story, which is no doubt an interesting one. But just now I have graver +matters to discuss with you.”</p> + +<p>“Grave matters with me?” she repeated, with feigned surprise and a +ripple of laughter that was like the tinkle of a silver bell. “That is +an unusual kind of discussion for a soldier to hold with a woman. Are +you going to ask my advice about your morning coffee or your next +campaign? <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>But I pray you, sir, proceed; I am all attention.”</p> + +<p>There was not a glimmer of daylight through the unshuttered window-sash. +She felt the sinews in her hands and arms grow like iron, and her pulses +beat with the perfection of rhythm. So does a great crisis sometimes +steady a woman’s nerves.</p> + +<p>The short colonel rocked himself from toe to heel a moment as he looked +at her half in unbelief, half in admiration of her coolness. Truly she +was superb. Then he said:—</p> + +<p>“The spy of yesterday has not been taken.”</p> + +<p>“So these gentlemen were telling me,” smiling over at Barry.</p> + +<p>“But it is most important to the safety of our command and the good of +our cause that he be found—dead or alive.”</p> + +<p>She merely nodded, never taking her steady gaze from his face.</p> + +<p>“That he could have gotten out of the town is impossible. My men ran him +in from the west side, over the bridge of the Eno. The sentinels were at +their posts upon the north, east, and south sides of the village; he +could not have passed them without detection.”</p> + +<p>Again he paused; and finding that something was expected of her she +said, in a most matter-of-fact way, “I see.”</p> + +<p>“Then the only conclusion to come to is, that he is still in the town. +Well, now, every house <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>in this vicinity, where he was last seen, has +been thoroughly searched save yours. I have talked with Lord +Cornwallis—”</p> + +<p>She stood up suddenly, with a dignity of movement that well-nigh +disconcerted him. “I pray you, Colonel Tarleton, cut your explanation +short.”</p> + +<p>“Then in short, madam, I have here an order from his lordship to examine +your house and premises.”</p> + +<p>She stretched out her hand for the paper silently, imperiously.</p> + +<p>Barry had risen and come to her side.</p> + +<p>“You will see,” Tarleton made haste to add, “that your own loyalty is +not impugned. The paper states explicitly that it is not believed you +have any knowledge of the man’s whereabouts; but it is thought possible +he may have concealed himself secretly in your house. I have spoken to +his lordship, and—”</p> + +<p>“It were unnecessary to say so—I know full well, without the telling, +who has so poisoned his lordship’s mind against me. Every man, woman, +and child in this community knows that I have never wavered in my +allegiance to the king. I have been a target for Whig criticism, almost +of persecution, because of that allegiance—and this is my reward!” she +struck the paper sharply with her other hand. “Well, sir, I recognize +the source!” she turned her eyes scornfully upon the man on the rug.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p><p>Tarleton ground his teeth, but his private orders were to use the lady +with all gentleness, and he knew how to obey—under provocation. He +began some sullen disclaimer, but she broke in imperiously:—</p> + +<p>“Enough, sir; such paltry excuses weary me. Let us to business.”</p> + +<p>“You interpose no objection?”</p> + +<p>“None, sir. In this house the mandates of his majesty’s representatives +are obeyed. Let me see; is it your wish to begin upstairs? Very well. +Perhaps these gentlemen will be kind enough to watch the stair; the +flight below the landing comes down just at this door.”</p> + +<p>“May I not come with you?” pleaded Barry, who was loath to have her out +of his sight with the brusque colonel, lest some rude word be spoken to +her,—a discourtesy he would have been hot to revenge even upon his +superior officer.</p> + +<p>Tarleton nodded assent, but Joscelyn laughingly interposed, “Nay, good +captain, your boots show the effects of the weather; it would grieve my +mother’s housewifely heart to know they were leaving their impress upon +her carpets. Wait here and guard the stair—are we three not enough to +capture one?” She pointed as she spoke from herself and Tarleton to his +orderly who had been standing at attention just inside the door. “I take +it, Colonel Tarleton, that we shall be sufficient?” He bowed; and +thrusting her knitting into her pocket, she moved out of the room, +followed by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>the officer and his orderly. “Mother, look you to the +comfort of these other guests; I shall return presently.”</p> + +<p>There was a threat in Barry’s eyes as they met Tarleton’s in a fleeting +glance; but he merely saluted in silence as that officer passed out. One +day Tarleton should pay for this needless offence to a girl so +unprotected and so beautiful. It was most evident from her bearing to +see that she had nothing to fear from an investigation. Yes, one day he +should pay for it.</p> + +<p>In the hall Joscelyn stopped to pick up the key-basket and the one +candle in its tall brass candlestick. Thus did she leave the lower hall +unlighted save from the open parlour door, for she wanted no radiance +thrown upward to the story above. She talked unceasingly as they mounted +the steps, raising her voice presumably to over-top the noise of the +heavy boots, but really as a warning to the man hiding above. Not for a +moment did she allow herself to consider the probably fatal outcome of +this search. She needed every faculty of mind and body to meet the +moments as they came. In the narrow upper entry she paused and lifted +her candle; a few chairs, a spinning-wheel, and a table formed its only +furniture. A cat could scarcely have hidden there.</p> + +<p>“Proceed, I pray you,” said Tarleton, after one glance around.</p> + +<p>Three doors opened on this passage; the nearest of these, which was the +one toward the front, she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>threw open. The white bed, the frilled +curtains, the dainty toilet articles upon the dresser, were heralds +enough to proclaim the occupant. Even Tarleton hesitated.</p> + +<p>“To search here were useless.”</p> + +<p>“Nay, sir; I insist that you carry out your instructions.”</p> + +<p>She placed the candle on the table and waited haughtily while the +inspection was made, nodding toward the wardrobe, “Open the doors and +see if Betty Clevering knew whereof she spoke.”</p> + +<p>“There is no one here,” said Tarleton, following her instructions, his +big hand looking awkward enough among the pretty feminine garments. She +picked up the light and opened the connecting door to her mother’s room. +Tarleton went with her first, however, nodding to the orderly to return +by way of the passage, that none might creep by that means from the +rear.</p> + +<p>“An excellent precaution; I had not thought of it,” said Joscelyn, +detecting the unspoken order.</p> + +<p>There was a bright fire on her mother’s hearth, and she stood as though +warming herself while the two men made their investigation. Her manner +was so perfectly frank and unconcerned that Tarleton began to curse +himself for a fool. At headquarters the other officers had opposed his +plan, laughing at the evidence his guards had gathered—a little mud on +a trellis in rainy weather, a locked door when a woman was left alone in +her house in such troublous times! Truly, the short <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>colonel was +over-credulous to attach any significance to such trifles. Only by the +most masterly persuasion had he wrung that order from Cornwallis. He did +not relish the laugh he knew his failure would provoke, so he lingered +somewhat in this room, examining the closet, and making the orderly +climb up and look to see that no one was hidden on top of the tall +tester. Finally, he announced himself satisfied.</p> + +<p>Joscelyn’s hands were like ice as she took up the light and led the way +into the hall, and there stopped in front of the attic door.</p> + +<p>“This is the only other apartment on this floor. It is the attic over +the pantry and kitchen, and extends to the right the length of this hall +and of mother’s room, which you have just quitted. There is no other +entrance but this door in the corner, as you will see.”</p> + +<p>“Take the light, orderly,” said Tarleton, as she turned over the keys in +the basket. This was not what she wanted, but she yielded it without a +demurrer.</p> + +<p>The key turned easily, and opening the door she stepped in, still +keeping her hand upon the knob, which action brought her within a foot +and a half of the wall behind. Still holding the door and facing about +she pointed down the long, narrow apartment.</p> + +<p>“Will you make yourselves at home, gentlemen?”</p> + +<p>Tarleton’s spirits rose; the shadows and heaped-up <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>odds and ends in the +far side of the room seemed a covert for noble game. There was no +furniture at this end against which the door opened, only bags of seed +and dried peppers and herbs hanging along the wall in rear of the +girlish figure. His quick glance took this in; then motioning his +orderly to follow, he went down the length of the apartment, the light +glinting on the pistols in each man’s hand. On the shelves were +carefully folded piles of bedclothes, and behind the chest a smooth roll +of carpet powdered with dust. The hair trunks and the broken bureau gave +up no guest, nor did the deep shelves reveal anything suspicious.</p> + +<p>All this while a hand had been plucking at Joscelyn’s skirt, but +Tarleton had kept his side face to her so that any action was +impossible. Now, however, he called sharply to his aide to place the +candle on the floor and help him search the big chest, remarking in a +low tone that “Caskets like that sometimes held living jewels.”</p> + +<p>Joscelyn laughed. “Then will it be in the shape of mice, of which +capture I wish you joy. A rat hunt is noble sport for one of his +Majesty’s gallant officers!”</p> + +<p>As she intended it should, this speech but spurred Tarleton on to +greater exertions. They would soon be coming back to the door, and she +dared not risk the closing of it with what she knew was behind. But +there was not much time left for action; for, obeying orders, the aide +placed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>the candle on the floor, and opening the lid of the chest began +overhauling the contents; his chief’s back was also toward the door. +Now, if at all, was the moment for action. Joscelyn’s hand had been on +the yarn ball in her pocket; quick as a flash it was out and the thread +snapped apart. The floor slanted straight from her to the candle. With a +deft cast she sent the noiseless ball down the room; it struck the +narrow-bottomed candlestick, which careened and rocked over—and the +next moment the room was in total darkness.</p> + +<p>A cry broke from her and Tarleton simultaneously; his was an oath upon +the orderly, hers a nervous relaxation of the strain that had been upon +her.</p> + +<p>“Colonel Tarleton, come quickly and guard the door whilst I find another +light!” she cried, suppressing the dry sob in her throat; for in the +momentary darkness she had felt a warm body crush past her on its way to +the hall.</p> + +<p>But at that instant the orderly found his tinder-box.</p> + +<p><a name="illo6" id="illo6"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 322px;"> +<img src="images/i275.jpg" class="ispace" width="322" height="500" alt="“‘I HAVE SEEN NO HUMAN BEING SAVE OUR PARTY OF THREE.’”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“‘I HAVE SEEN NO HUMAN BEING SAVE OUR PARTY OF THREE.’”</span> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<h3>THWARTED.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox8 bbox"><p>“They laugh who win.”</p> +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Shakespeare.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">A</span>s the candle kindled under the orderly’s hand Tarleton, who had sprung +toward the door, found himself within a foot of Joscelyn, whom the light +revealed standing in the open doorway with a hand lifted to either +lintel.</p> + +<p>“You find me guarding the postern, colonel,” she said, smiling, although +her very knees were shaking under her with nervous trepidation.</p> + +<p>“How came the light to go out?” he demanded angrily.</p> + +<p>“Surely, that is a matter for you to explain. I was far from it at this +end of the room,” she answered coldly. Then presently added, “Perchance +’twas struck by some of the things you threw out of the chest; or did +the orderly jar the plank on which it sat? You see the floor is quite a +loose one. No fourth person could have put it out without my perceiving +him, <i>and I swear to you I have seen no human being save our party of +three</i> since coming up the stair.”</p> + +<p>This was the truth; for she had not once glanced behind the door, and +she spoke the words slowly, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>looking the while straight into Tarleton’s +eyes. He turned his searching gaze from her, but evidently he was not +satisfied, for as she moved from the door he snatched the light, and +stepping beyond her, and so on up the hall, looked into both of the +rooms he had recently examined. As he paused at her door with the candle +lifted above his head, the scene swam before Joscelyn’s eyes. If he +entered, there would be discovery—murder. It seemed an interminable +minute that he stood thus; then the blood came again to her heart with a +rush, for he turned back from the threshold, and, calling for another +light to leave in the hall, he went again to finish his examination of +the attic. Not a box was left unemptied, not a barrel or chest or shelf +that was not searched as for some tiny object that might secrete itself +in a crack. Joscelyn, leaning against the open door, watched the process +in silence save for occasional mocking suggestions or biting comments, +to most of which he gave no heed. A lurking suspicion of her, added to +his fear of ridicule at headquarters, made him doubly cautious, so that +he never turned his back upon her for an instant, and now and then he +paused and looked at her keenly and curiously; but she only gave him a +satirical laugh for his pains. But the search could not go on forever, +and at last he had to announce that he had finished. Joscelyn longed to +leave the door open, that Richard might creep back; but they had found +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>it locked, and so, fearful of arousing suspicion, she made no objection +when Tarleton, having looked behind the door, locked it and handed her +the key. On every step of the stair her spirits rose, so that her cheeks +were brilliant and her eyes shining, when at the bottom Barry met them, +and relieving her of her basket and candle, placed them on the table. +There was no need to ask the result of the search; Tarleton’s face was a +proclamation of defeat. After a few pleasantries with Barry as to how he +had guarded the steps, and how many ghostly spies he had seen gliding up +or down, Joscelyn opened the dining room door, saying, with a return to +her stately courtesy:—</p> + +<p>“And now, Colonel Tarleton, we will finish our task, an it please you. +His lordship will be consumed with impatience for your return.”</p> + +<p>Sullenly Tarleton followed her lead; he intercepted the glance she shot +at Barry, and felt himself a butt for her ridicule, and his temper was +not improved thereby. The ransacked pantries and closets gave up nothing +that was alive except a mouse, at whose wild antics, Joscelyn and Barry +laughed like a couple of children, their mouths full of cake which the +girl had cut from the loaf on the shelf. It was such a relief to laugh, +to do anything to ease the tense strain upon her nerves and composure. +It was raining without, and she sat with Barry by the dining room fire, +while Tarleton and the orderly investigated the cellar and the +outbuildings. Those few moments alone <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>with her finished the subjugation +of the young man’s heart. He knew that for him there could be no +happiness in the future unless she shared it with him; and he was +telling her so in hesitating whispers—for his very earnestness had made +him shy and awkward—when the return of the searching party put an end +to the interview.</p> + +<p>Joscelyn stood upon the veranda as Tarleton mounted for the ride, and +cried out with her tantalizing mockery:—</p> + +<p>“Commend me to his lordship, and say that you came upon a fool’s errand, +and carry back but the fruit of such a quest.”</p> + +<p>She would have said more, but her mother plucked her by the sleeve with +frightened command; and so with an enchanting change of manner she +turned to Captain Barry, who had lingered on the step, and begged that +he would ere long give them again the pleasure of his company. Her words +were meant more as a rebuff to Tarleton by contrast with the sharp +things she had said to him; but the younger officer construed them into +an acknowledged preference for himself, and his quick pulses throbbed +with a foretaste of that sweetest victory a man can win—the capture of +a beloved woman’s heart. As he rode away with his companion, he knew not +if it still rained or was clear; the mud of the streets might have been +drifts of bright-hued blossoms for all the notice he gave it; even his +resentment against Tarleton was forgotten in this sweet dream <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>of love +which, amid the shadows of war, had suddenly opened before him as a +flower unfolds its petals to the dawn. At supper with his +fellow-officers, he heard none of the jests upon Tarleton’s failure of +the evening, so busy was he recalling every word and look of the girl +who in one short week had made the world as a new creation for him. The +time for his wooing would be short, and the morrow was too remote for +his impatient heart; and so ere another hour went by he was again +knocking at her door. Much to his chagrin, he found other guests before +him, for hardly had he quitted the house ere Mary Singleton arrived and +announced that she meant to tarry all night.</p> + +<p>“Eustace and some of his friends are coming later; so, my dear, you must +let me run upstairs at once and change this damp gown for something more +comfortable and becoming. When you see who is with Eustace, you will +understand why I want to look so charming. My maid has my bag in the +kitchen. Come.”</p> + +<p>Another menace! Would she never be free from discovery, Joscelyn +wondered. And taking her friend by the shoulders, she pushed her +playfully into the parlour.</p> + +<p>“’Tis easy enough to guess who is coming, by the happiness in your eyes. +But there, go make your duty to mother while I have a fire kindled in my +room; then shall you make yourself as beautiful as a dream ere it runs +to a nightmare.”</p> + +<p>Upstairs she raced, stopping in the hall only <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>long enough to unlock the +attic door. In her room was a slight noise; and she was about to call +Richard softly, when by the fireplace she perceived the maid blowing the +coals into a blaze.</p> + +<p>“That will do, Peggy. Go down at once and get a pair of your dry shoes +for Mistress Singleton’s maid, that she may shortly be ready to help her +mistress dress.”</p> + +<p>Peggy obeyed; and then Joscelyn heard her name called, and saw the +curtains of the bed-tester shaken as by some one standing behind them, +and Richard’s head and shoulders came to view. Answering the look in his +eloquent eyes, she put out her hand with a quick impulse to meet his; +but at that moment the door was flung open, and Mary rushed in.</p> + +<p>“They have come already, and ’tis as much as my chances with Edward +Moore are worth to have him see me in this garb; so I fled for my life,” +she cried, laughing and panting together.</p> + +<p>Joscelyn dared not look toward the bed curtain; surely, the fates had +combined against her! She stood quite still and let Mary run on with her +confidences concerning young Moore, salving her conscience with the +thought that a second listener could not matter when a human life was at +stake. But when Mary, too intent upon the mirror to look at the bed, +shook down her hair and began deliberately to unfasten her bodice, +Joscelyn grew desperate. She could not permit this.</p> + +<p>“Wait until—until the fire burns, Mary,” she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>cried, that she might +gain a few minutes to think. But Mary only laughed and went on +unhooking, raving about blue eyes and a tall figure; to all of which +Joscelyn agreed, striving to fasten the hooks again until Mary pushed +her off in a small pet. Then, with a last frantic effort, she upset, +with a palpably awkward movement of her elbow, a pitcher that stood on +the dresser; and as the deluge of water came down she cried to Mary to +go at once to her mother’s room, where was a better fire, and she would +follow with her things. It was a most open bit of acting, without a +shadow of plot or diplomacy; but Mary was too intent upon her love +affair to notice, and so went obediently into the next room, talking +still of Edward Moore. As Joscelyn gathered up some ribbons and lace +from the bed, she whispered as though to the curtained post:—</p> + +<p>“The attic door is open—there is no one in the hall.”</p> + +<p>Then did the post seem suddenly alive, for a hand caught hers, and a +voice full of love and gratitude said in her ear:—</p> + +<p>“God bless you! Good-by.”</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later, trying the attic door, she found it locked from +within; and, leaving Mary in the hands of the maid, she went down the +stair with a light heart, for the day’s trials were over at last, and +she might cease to wrack her brain for expedients and deceptions. Other +guests had followed Barry, and the house was soon full of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>echoing +laughter and snatches of song, with the low hum of conversation, like +the ripple of a brook, running ceaselessly underneath the lighter +sounds.</p> + +<p>As soon as Joscelyn laid eyes on Eustace she knew something was amiss, +and he was not long in letting her know what it was, upbraiding her +bitterly for her cruel speech of last night.</p> + +<p>“You were not content that those rude men were searching her house, but +must add to her humiliation. What demon of cruelty possessed you?”</p> + +<p>“It was the meanest thing I ever did,” she said, with something like a +sob; “and, Eustace, if you can only get Betty to forgive me, there is +nothing I will not do for you.”</p> + +<p>“Small chance I have to win forgiveness for you or favour for myself,” +he answered gloomily. “I wish I had been here last night; she should +have known she had at least one friend, though I lost my commission by +it. Only once have I seen her, and then but for ten minutes, with her +mother freezing the life out of us with her cold stare.”</p> + +<p>“If I arrange a meeting between this and your departure, will you spare +a few moments from your wooing to plead for me?”</p> + +<p>“Yes; but can you do it?”</p> + +<p>“Slip away up to mother’s room and write her a note; I will see that she +gets it this night,” and, mollified, he went.</p> + +<p>Upstairs in the attic, shivering under the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>blankets behind the big +chest, Richard hearkened to the subdued echoes of gayety from below and +went over thoughtfully the events of the day. All the morning and +afternoon he had felt the nets closing about him, and when he read +Joscelyn’s hasty warning he knew that death stood at his elbow. Not that +hope died, but what could hope do in such straights? He made ready as +she bade him, folding the blankets and straightening the carpet, putting +his boots into a barrel under a lot of old shoes and odds and scraps. +Then with his ear to the door, he had waited for what seemed a dragging +age. Always his care was for Joscelyn. Even when, during the search, the +door was opened, and he stood crushed against the wall with his would-be +captors and murderers not six feet away, the uppermost thought in his +mind was for her, anxiety for her safety, admiration for her magnificent +courage. Slipping out of the room in that momentary darkness, he had +felt like a traitor deserting the thing on earth dearest to him, and had +cursed the fate that sent him away. But the supreme moment came when, +crouching by her bed, he saw through the tester curtain the British +officer pause in the door with his lifted light. One step out into the +room, and the flimsy curtain could not have hidden the figure of the man +behind it. On that one more step hung life or death. Breathless, Richard +waited, his unsheathed dirk in his hand. He knew this man,—hated as no +other Englishman was hated through <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>the length and breadth of the +land,—standing thus unconscious of any danger, was utterly within his +power. One strong upward blow where the heart was left uncovered by the +lifted arm, and the cause of American liberty would lose one of its +deadliest enemies. But the guards below, the soldiers swarming in the +street—and Joscelyn! At thought of her the murderous instinct in his +soul was quelled, and without so much as a relaxed muscle, he saw +Tarleton turn from the room. Then he had hidden himself more carefully +and waited for her coming. Mistaking for her the maid who came to light +the fire, he was near to self-betrayal; and he could not remember how he +had gotten out of sight when later on Mary burst into the room; but +lying now at full length under the sloping rafters, he smiled at the +measures Joscelyn had used to dispose of her, recognizing that subtle +loyalty which would, in dire straits, give up a friend’s love secret to +another, but would not without an effort sacrifice that friend’s +modesty.</p> + +<p>Brave girl, what a spirit and resolution were hers! And yet he had seen +her cry over a dead wren and flinch from the sight of his hunting-gun. +And how many trials and perils he had drawn upon her by his presence, +although if taken he had resolved to live only long enough to proclaim +her blameless. Well, when the revel down below should be over, he would +steal away, for he would be a source of danger to her no more. And, +besides, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>Greene needed his information. He must face his fate and take +what chances he might; that was a scout’s fate and duty; and so he +planned his course. By and by he left his couch and stood at the door to +try and separate Joscelyn’s voice from the medley of sounds that made +their way up to him; the least scrap of a sentence would be as balm to +his aching heart. But he listened long in vain; all was a confused +babble; then suddenly a voice called her, and she answered clearly that +she was sitting on the stair with Captain Barry. And somebody said, “Of +course.” And then there was a general laugh that somehow set Richard’s +blood in a strange tingle of pain.</p> + +<p>So she was sitting there just below him, within sight if he but dared to +crack the door. And such a longing came upon him that he did turn the +key and made a little opening, and saw the back of her head and her +scarlet bodice as she bent down to some one sitting below her. A keen +jealousy smote him; who was her companion, was he handsome or homely? Of +course he was making love to her; no one could look that close into her +eyes and not love her. And she,—was she smiling with the sweet shyness +he loved but wanted no other man to see? It was only by a supreme effort +of will that he dragged himself away and fastened the door again. Would +they never go, those idle gossiping people with their thoughts absorbed +by pleasure and merriment—never go and let her come to him for just one +minute of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>divine joy? How he hated them all for staying; and above all, +how he hated that man on the stairs whispering his heart into her ear.</p> + +<p>Presently there came the clatter of dishes, and then he remembered he +had had no supper and it must be close upon midnight. With the coming of +the dark the wind had risen and the garret was bitterly cold; but busy +with plans for his escape and with thoughts of her, he scarcely noticed +how stiff and numb his limbs were.</p> + +<p>An hour later there were calls of “good-by,” and the sound of opening +and closing doors below, mingled with shrill feminine voices calling for +wraps, and out in the street the stamping of horses. Then silence +reigned, and he knew the guests had departed. Presently there was a slow +tread upon the stairs, and Mistress Cheshire called back some directions +to those below. Then a lighter, quicker step followed, and Mary +Singleton went singing to Joscelyn’s room. Fifteen, perhaps twenty +minutes of intense silence went by, and then a slender thread of light +shone under the door; and so faint as to be almost inaudible, a tap fell +on the panel. Quickly as possible he drew the bolt and opened the door, +but only just in time to see Joscelyn enter her own room and close the +door. On a table, in reach of his hand, stood a shaded candle and beside +it was his supper. It was for this she had called him; but hungry as he +was, he forgot it in his bitter disappointment that he was not to speak +to her. Time pressed, however, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>soon he was back in the attic, +devouring the food she had left. Particularly grateful to him was the +mug of steaming hot tea.</p> + +<p>“Tax or no tax, it cheers me up, temptress that you are, sweet Joscelyn. +Perchance a Continental toast may override the Royalist poison lurking +in it, and so I pledge Nathaniel Greene and his trusted +scout—particularly the scout.” He laughed softly as he drained the cup.</p> + +<p>Physically he was strengthened and warmed for the flight before him, but +his heart was heavy with disappointment and dread. Once he abandoned the +idea of attempting to escape; the house had been searched and the guard +removed, therefore he was safer here than anywhere else, and he must see +her before he went. But more unselfish council prevailed; it was not his +safety only that must be considered. The knowledge he had gained would +be of inestimable value to Greene; the going of the guard left the way +open to him, and it was duty, not personal inclination, that must +dictate his course.</p> + +<p>He waited until the tall clock below chimed one, and then made ready for +his departure. He had resolved not to tell Joscelyn of his plans even if +he might have spoken with her, for he wanted her sleep troubled by no +anxiety for him; but the yearning of his heart found expression in the +farewell he left upon the senseless panels of her door. Then, boots in +hand, he crept downstairs and into the dining room. Here the rear door +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>fastened with a latch, the string of which was drawn inside at night. +Softly he stepped out, closing it behind him, and stood a moment pushing +the string back through its hole, that those behind might be safe; then, +hugging the fence, he crept to the gate and was soon in the alley +outside. The darkness, the soft mud, and the howling wind were all in +his favour. He knew his way even in the gloom, and so, making now and +then a detour to avoid a public street or a possible sentry post, he +came at last to the outskirts of the town, keeping always in the +direction opposite the British camp. The bridge he knew must be well +guarded, and so must the road over the mountains; hence he kept directly +across the fields to where the river bends under the cliff called +“Lovers’ Leap.” Ahead of him, behind a clump of bushes, burned a low +fire, and he crept up on hands and knees to hear what the two men +sitting there were saying. One of them was surlily poking the fire:—</p> + +<p>“If we break camp to-morrow, how the devil can we march over such soggy +roads?”</p> + +<p>“The Guildford road is not so bad,” was the answer; and although Richard +waited a long time, he heard nothing else. And so like a ghost he crept +into the drifting rain and soon gained the river, repeating to himself +that last sentence which might be the keynote to the British movements.</p> + +<p>His knowledge of the country folk stood him in good stead, for soon he +was untying a canoe from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>a gum tree not far from a lonely cabin. Often, +when a boy, he had gone with the owner fishing in this boat, tying it up +to the tree roots when the day’s sport was done. The river was turbulent +from the recent downpour, and in the darkness he went further +down-stream than he intended; but at last he drew into a cove of weeds +and reeds, and leaving the boat there he plunged into the forest beyond. +But he was not lost, and ere the dawn came he had found a friend, and +well mounted he pressed on to carry the news he had gathered to the +American camp; and as he rode, he thought always and with a gnawing +bitterness of the view he had had of Joscelyn’s head as she bent down to +catch the love words of that invisible suitor.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<h3>GOOD-BY, SWEETHEART.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox7 bbox"><p>“Yet all my life seems going out<br /> +As slow I turn my face about<br /> +To go alone another way, to be alone<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Till life’s last day,</span><br /> +Unless thy smile can light the way!”</p> +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Anon.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span>n the early morning, before the family were astir, Joscelyn dressed +herself hurriedly and went to the attic door. It was ajar. With a quick +premonition of evil, she entered and whispered Richard’s name. No answer +came; no one was there. Then the truth flashed upon her—he had gone, +risking everything rather than further expose her to discovery and its +dire results. How chivalric, and yet how insane! Of course he would be +captured, or else he would perish with cold and hunger this bitter +winter weather. She looked about carefully; not a scrap of a note had he +left to say good-by. She had not dared to wait to speak with him last +night, lest Mary discover them; but now she reproached herself, feeling +that she might have prevented this mad mistake. She had meant to come +back after all was quiet, but Mary talked so long that for very shame +she had not dared to do so, dreading his man’s judgment of a visit at +such an hour.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p><p>She was now in a nervous tremor, and feared to have the maids come in, +lest they announce that the spy had been taken; and when they came but +said naught of it, she began to look for news from outsiders. Several +times during the morning meal she glanced across to Aunt Clevering’s +house with such a tempestuous pity for the old lady’s coming sorrow that +her eyes shone with tears; and her mother, seeing them, thought that it +was sorrow for the estrangement she had wrought between the two +families, and resolved to tell Ann Clevering about it.</p> + +<p>“Come, Joscelyn,” said Mary, looking up from her plate, “an you eat no +breakfast and keep your mouth pulled down at the corners like that, +we’ll be thinking Captain Barry left unsaid the things he should have +said last night.”</p> + +<p>“I know not what you think he should have said—but he was very +charming,” the girl said, rousing herself.</p> + +<p>“Particularly when you two sat on the stair and whispered so long.”</p> + +<p>“The time seemed long to you because just at that time Edward Moore was +talking with Pattie Newsom.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” answered Mary, tossing her head, “it was quite as long to him, +for he said it seemed years while he was from me.”</p> + +<p>“Poor Pattie!”</p> + +<p>But all the time she jested her heart was full; and she kept her eyes on +the opposite house or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>watched those who passed in the street to guess, +if possible, if they carried news to the commander’s quarters. The rain +had passed in the night, but toward dawn the wind had crystallized it +into sleet, so that in the sun the ice-dight world sparkled like a jewel +catching the light upon its many facets and kindling each with a +different flame; everywhere was a brilliant silvery glisten with gleams +of amethyst and agate, ochre and opal like momentary meteors in the +marvellous dazzle. What a day to be hunted across country like a wild +animal by human bloodhounds! What a day to die by a bullet, or, worse +still, on yonder historic hill as the Regulators died!</p> + +<p>The hours wore on, and still no tidings came. Joscelyn went restlessly +from room to room, unable to fix her attention upon anything. It was +close upon ten o’clock when the thud of hoofs resounded outside, and a +minute after Barry entered the room. Evidently the news he brought was +of a gloomy character, for his face was clouded.</p> + +<p>“The spy—they have caught him!” Joscelyn cried, leaning heavily on her +chair.</p> + +<p>“The spy? What do you mean—what is the matter that you are so pale?” +The solicitude in his voice was not unmixed with a curious surprise. +Then when she hesitated over her answer, he said; coming quite close to +her, “Why are you so interested in this spy?”</p> + +<p>Then in a moment she was herself again. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>“They say it was he who saved +my life on the commons; should I be true to my womanhood if I dismissed +him from my thoughts? I tell you frankly I wish him well.”</p> + +<p>She returned his gaze quietly, and he took her hand with a deference +that was an apology. “And I, too, wish him well for that service, no +matter what he may have carried to his general to our undoing—for he +has not been taken. I am a soldier and a servant of the king, but in my +heart of hearts your safety is more than the safety of Lord Cornwallis’s +whole command.”</p> + +<p>His reward was a dazzling smile and an invitation to sit with her upon +the sofa, which action brought him within a foot of her. He longed to +lessen even that distance, but comforted himself with the thought that +his hand might creep to hers at the first softening of her manner.</p> + +<p>“What made you think I brought news of the spy?”</p> + +<p>“You were so grave I thought naught but an execution could be in +progress.”</p> + +<p>“It is indeed a kind of execution, for this is to be my good-by,” he +said sadly. “We march in two hours; already camp is broken, and +preparations are being made.”</p> + +<p>“And this decision was reached—?”</p> + +<p>“Late last night at a council of officers. This spy has carried away +information about our position that Greene could use to our defeat; +that, with other reasons, brought about the decision. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>I did not sleep +one moment for thinking of leaving you.”</p> + +<p>“And the search for the spy is given over?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>She could not repress a sigh of relief, but he did not so interpret it. +Mary had withdrawn to the window, and her mother had left the room; they +two might as well have been alone.</p> + +<p>“My God, how I shall miss you!” cried the young fellow at last, +desperately. “You see I never loved a woman before, and so I know not +how to bear this parting.”</p> + +<p>“You are a soldier,” she said gently. “A soldier endures any pain +manfully.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, but no sword thrust ever hurt like this. You are glad you have met +me?”</p> + +<p>“Very glad.”</p> + +<p>“And you will miss me and think of me sometimes?”</p> + +<p>“Many times.”</p> + +<p>“And when the war is over, I may come back and—and claim your love?”</p> + +<p>He had taken her hand, and she could not at once draw it away, for a +strange hesitation was upon her. “I cannot promise,” she said at last. +“Ten days ago I did not know you.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, but ten hours taught my heart its lesson for life, and war makes +quick wooing.”</p> + +<p>She slowly but firmly drew her hand away. “I cannot promise; but I love +no one else.”</p> + +<p>“Then I will wait and hope.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p><p>A few minutes later a bugle sent its shrill call down the wind. He +sprang up and hastily shook hands with Mary and Mistress Cheshire, who +had just returned to the room; but, answering his pleading glance, +Joscelyn followed him into the hall that the others might not witness +the emotion of his parting with herself.</p> + +<p>“Try to love me,” he said, and was gone; and watching him as he passed +out of sight, she felt that her hands were wet with the boyish tears +that had fallen on them as he carried them to his lips in a fervid +farewell. And suddenly she asked herself what happier fate awaited her +than to accept this love poured out so prodigally at her feet. The +question brought serious thoughts, so Mary found her but dull company +until other visitors arrived to say also their farewells. One of these +brought a note from Lord Cornwallis. Would she not come and witness +their departure?</p> + +<p>“Mother,” she said, coming downstairs in her habit, “I shall not be at +home this afternoon; call Betty over to sort her wools out of my +knitting-bag; she will find it on the spinet. And while she works over +it, go you once more to Aunt Clevering’s, if you please, and intercede +for me; Betty will not mind being left.”</p> + +<p>Thus did she plan to leave the way open to Eustace for a hasty farewell +to his sweetheart.</p> + +<p>A little past noon the drums rolled out their hoarse commands, and the +British army was on the move. An unrestrained excitement ran riot <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>in +the town. There were blaring bugles and flaunting flags, and everywhere +glimmers of red as the corps passed onward. At the head of the British +columns rode Lord Cornwallis, and at his bridle-rein went Mistress +Joscelyn, the picture of good humour and coquetry, with a scarlet +cockade in her hat, and an officer’s sash tied jauntily across her +breast from shoulder to waist. The rich colour of the silk brought out +by contrast the sea-blue lights in her eyes and the glossy gleams of her +hair. Men forgot the martial pageant to look at her; and when at the +home pier of the river bridge the staff paused, the salutes from the +passing soldiers were as much for her as for the general beside her. +There the parting came, the officers falling in at the rear of the +troops when the last company had passed over. As Eustace passed +Joscelyn, he lifted the lapel of his coat, on which was a purple +aster,—the like of which grew nowhere save in Betty’s dormer +window,—and said with a happy smile:—</p> + +<p>“Your plan worked well, sweet Joscelyn. Ten minutes of heaven compensate +a man for hours of purgatory. May the fates be as kind to your own +heart.”</p> + +<p>But it was Barry who lingered behind the others for one last look and +word, and then went clattering over the bridge, and left the girl to +return to the town with the few Tory women who had dared to share her +ride. They had been bold enough at the start, with all the king’s army +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>at their backs, but to go back unprotected by martial power was quite +another thing; anti-Toryism would now hold sway, and they knew what that +meant; so at the entrance of the town the others turned aside to find +their homes, which fortunately were near at hand. But Joscelyn lived at +the far end of the town, and must needs pass the whole length of King +Street ere she gained her door.</p> + +<p>The street, which for the past week had been almost deserted by the +patriotic townspeople, now swarmed with eager men and women; but +Joscelyn’s thoughts were too full of Richard’s escape and Barry’s wooing +for her to note the angry glances directed toward her. It was not until +she was passing the wooden building that had served Cornwallis as +headquarters for his staff, that she became aware of the hostility she +was exciting. Then a voice called out to her to take off that hated +insignia she wore; and ere she realized what was happening, four or five +boys had surrounded her horse and were snatching at the sash ends that +dangled from her waist. Her anger flamed up to a white heat at this +insult, and she laid about her with her riding-whip until they let her +be. A volley of light missiles followed her as she went on her way, her +horse curbed to a walk because she was too proud to seem to fly. The +same pride kept her from dodging the paper balls and bits of soft mud +that rained around her, and now and then struck her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>skirts and +shoulders. Thus, looking neither to the right nor the left, she went +slowly onward until a little urchin, springing to the middle of the road +in front of her, shouted insolently:—</p> + +<p>“Out upon you for a Tory jade!”</p> + +<p>His companions screamed their encouragement, thinking to see her +discomforted; but leaning out of her saddle she said, with that smile +that had played havoc with so many older hearts:—</p> + +<p>“Thank you, Jamie, for calling me such a beautiful name. Were the +examples I helped you to work last week quite right? You must come again +when you get in trouble over them, that I may save you from another +flogging.”</p> + +<p>The boy, remembering her timely aid, drew back abashed, dropping the mud +he had been wadding together in his grimy hand; and taking advantage of +the momentary cessation of hostilities, Joscelyn waved them a laughing +salute and cantered away to her own door. But in the privacy of her room +she broke down and sobbed out the excitement and suspense of the past +two days. The courage which had defied and cheated Tarleton and put the +riotous urchins to shame melted away in that burst of tears, and a +woman-like longing for protection and safety surged through her. If she +might only go away, or if there were but some one to stand between her +and this weary persecution!</p> + +<p>The first object upon which her eyes rested as she lifted her head when +the weeping was past, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>was that ill-fated scarf with which Barry had +decorated her that morning at headquarters. What a world of meaning +there was in it! Perhaps nothing could so have drawn her heart to the +absent officer as this silent messenger of his love. She folded it away +carefully, lingering a moment ere she shut it from sight to recall those +last words he had whispered in her ear ere he followed his comrades over +the river. All the rest of the day they echoed in her thoughts, calming +her by their earnest tenderness.</p> + +<p>“Betty came for her wools?” she asked her mother at bedtime.</p> + +<p>“Yes. And I forgot to tell you that after I had gone from the house +Eustace Singleton came to say good-by to you. When I returned from +Ann’s, I found him in the parlour, where his presence must greatly have +annoyed Betty, for she was red and flustered. I am sure I was sorry, but +I was in no way to blame for her disturbance.” And then tearfully she +went on to tell how her mission with Aunt Clevering had again failed.</p> + +<p>The change that came upon Hillsboro’ with the going of the British was +as swift as it was pronounced. Where before had been sullen repression +among the people, all was now animation and exuberance of spirits; the +Tories were intimidated, and the place bristled with patriotic +evidences. It was as though a slide had been slipped in a stereopticon, +and a new picture projected <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>upon the canvas. All the talk now ran on +Greene, who had moved down from the Dan and lay upon the heights of +Troublesome Creek, only thirteen miles from where Cornwallis had pitched +his own camp. For nearly two weeks the entire country watched with +panting interest these two generals play their advance-guards and +reconnoitring parties against each other as though they were so many +ivory figures upon a chessboard. Then came the meeting at Guildford +Court-house, the fame of which blew through the land like a sirocco’s +breath.</p> + +<p>“Lord Cornwallis has won the game at Guildford,” cried Joscelyn.</p> + +<p>“Ay, won it so hard and fast that he has had to run away to hold the +stakes,” retorted Mistress Strudwick, equally rejoiced over the British +retreat to Wilmington.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Had the militia but done their share, we should have finished +Cornwallis for good,” Richard wrote to Joscelyn after the battle. +“But praise be to Heaven, Banastre Tarleton is among the wounded. I +do hope and believe it was my bullet that hit him, for I singled +him out for my aim, remembering his bearing to you and my mother +last month. If so I hear that his wound proves fatal, I shall wear +no mourning.”</p></div> + +<p>And, truth to say, Joscelyn herself sorrowed never a bit over the short +colonel’s discomfiture. Later on came another letter:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“We are on the march to the south to aid Marion, Sumter, and +Pickens to snatch South Carolina and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>Georgia from the foe. We know +of the terrible doings of Arnold in Virginia, and General La +Fayette has been sent to check him, but much I doubt his success. +Ye gods! what a soldier we lost when Arnold went over to the enemy +in that traitorous way. He was the one man in our army who was +Tarleton’s match in a raid. If the Marquis catches him, however, I +should like to be at the reckoning. A traitor with the fire of +genius in his veins! At Guildford I looked at his old command, and +said to myself that the day had gone differently had Arnold led +them. Men followed him like sheep to victory or to death. Think you +what a demon it takes to harrow one’s country, to fight against +one’s own people!”</p></div> + +<p>As the weeks passed and the spring advanced, Joscelyn’s position in the +community grew more irksome, for Tory supremacy was at an end and the +patriotic spirit was dominant. “Only the rudeness of some excited boys,” +the older folk had said of the incident of her homeward ride the day the +British withdrew; but it was rather the true index of the public temper +against her, and not a day went by but she was made to feel it keenly. +Never was an occasion to annoy her neglected, until between her and her +neighbours was a bloodless but harassing feud that destroyed utterly the +old harmony and good will. She felt the change bitterly; every neglect +or retort rankled in her thoughts until it became as a fester corrupting +her happiness. But she kept a brave face to the world, and sang her Tory +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>ballads on the veranda in the soft spring twilights, or as she worked +through the sunny hours in the side yard where no flowers but those that +blossomed red were permitted to blow. And Mistress Strudwick said to her +cronies, with genuine admiration, that twenty Guildfords could not break +the spirit of a girl like that.</p> + +<p>But necessarily the thing that hurt Joscelyn most was Aunt Clevering’s +treatment. Not content to be a spectator, she often took the initiative +in the persecution the girl was made to suffer, ignoring her in public +or noticing her only to taunt her with some uncivil word or look. A few +sentences from Joscelyn might have swept away the barriers and restored +the old friendship, but she would not buy her pardon thus. She possibly +might not be believed without the proof of Richard’s letter, that first +short, fervid missive he had sent her on the eve of the great battle; +and that she could not show, not even to his own mother, such a heroine +did it make of her, such an ardent, grateful lover of him. Then, too, if +this quarrel with Aunt Clevering should be healed, people would ask +questions, and when the truth should be known she would be in no better +plight—a Tory maid risking everything, even life itself, to hide a +Continental spy! Neither friends nor foes would understand; her motives +would be misinterpreted, her loyalty questioned; and so her last estate +would be no better than her first. Thus did she hold her peace and hide +her tears <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>under cover of darkness, the while by day she sang her daring +little ditties among the growing things of her garden.</p> + +<p>Having been the arch-Royalist of the town, it was but natural that +public resentment should be most pronounced against her. The Singletons +and Moores were less outspoken, and so drew upon themselves less of +contumely. Her caustic speeches, on the contrary, were not forgotten, +until Mistress Strudwick threatened half tearfully, half playfully to +clip her tongue with her sharp scissors. But the chief thing that kept +alive the animosity against her were the letters that came to her now +and then from Cornwallis’s camp. She did not deny their reception, but +steadily refused to divulge their contents; and as it was believed that +in one way or another she contrived to answer them, the idea got abroad +that she was in the employ of the British general to keep him posted as +to the state of things in Hillsboro’-town. Nothing else could so have +set the people against her as this supposed espionage, and all through +the advancing summer she felt the weight of their displeasure. Mistress +Bryce openly denounced her, boys shouted disrespectful things under her +window at night, and the shopkeepers so neglected or refused her orders +that, had it not been for Mistress Strudwick, she and her mother would +have suffered; but that good friend stood stanchly by her. So loud were +the outcries against her when she rode abroad that out of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>deference to +her mother’s wishes, and also to save herself from needless +mortification, she never had the saddle put upon her horse.</p> + +<p>And yet innocent enough were those letters that caused so much of +trouble, filled as they were, not with army news, but with a man’s +tender love throes,—the vehement pleadings of a heart swayed by its +first grand passion.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<h3>BY THE BELEAGUERED CITY.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox7 bbox"><p>“Peace; come away; the song of woe<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is after all an earthy song:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Peace; come away; we do him wrong</span><br /> +To sing so wildly: let us go.”</p> +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Tennyson.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he summer seemed interminable, lit all along though it was with the +glimmer of lilies and iridescent gleams of parti-coloured roses. It was +the season of the year which Joscelyn loved best; but now the ceaseless +sunshine, the mosaic marvels of the turf, the kaleidoscopic changes of +earth and sky wearied her, so that she longed for the coming of autumn. +It came at last, unfurling its red and yellow banners in the woodlands, +and setting its russet seal upon the meadows. And with it came the news +of the siege of Yorktown; and the town of Hillsboro’ waked to new +enthusiasm and thrilled or shuddered at every alternating rumour.</p> + +<p>And in each of those far-away armies on the York was a man who watched +the sun go westward every eve, and sent a silent message to a girl with +dark hair and sea-blue eyes who pruned her roses in a new garden of the +Hesperides beside the Eno. Unknown to each other, their thoughts had +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>yet a common Mecca. But fate was not content that they should stand +thus forever apart.</p> + +<p>In Yorktown, Cornwallis had thought to be safe either to escape to +Clinton or be rescued by that general’s fleet sailing down the Atlantic +from New York. But instead to the east, in Lynn Haven Bay, De Grasse’s +ships held the passes to the sea; while on the land side—one wing on +York and one on Wormley creek—in two great crescents stretched the +lines of the allied armies, with Warwick creek running darkly between. +Over the tents that gleamed in the autumn sunshine there flew, side by +side, the stars and stripes of the Republic and the <i>fleur-de-lys</i> of +France. And there were sallies and repulses, and daily encroachments and +skirmishes between the allies without and the British within.</p> + +<p>It so happened one day that Richard’s company was detailed to guard the +ditchers who were making a new trench, and throwing up a fresh line of +breastworks that would enable them to draw yet nearer to the red-coated +pickets. Already these latter had been forced—by the horns of that ever +encroaching crescent—to withdraw twice, and now a third retreat seemed +imminent. But not without a struggle would they yield their posts; and +so presently, on that mellow autumn day, a flash of scarlet came in the +sun as an assaulting column swept out toward the projected line where +the shovels were at work; and the Continental guard, after discharging +their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>guns with signal success, waited with fixed bayonets to receive +the advancing column. It was a fierce contest fought almost hand to +hand; then the Redcoats began to fall back, and with a quick rush the +Continentals turned their retreat to a rout.</p> + +<p>Returning from that fierce charge with the flush of the fight upon him, +Richard came upon a man lying prone upon his face in the stubble—the +gallant English captain who had led the sally. He had seen him as he +fell far in advance of his column. There the retreat had left him inside +the new lines of the Continentals, and finding him still alive, Richard +turned him over softly so as not to start his wound afresh; and as he +did so he caught one word from the pale lips:—</p> + +<p>“<i>Joscelyn.</i>”</p> + +<p>The name unlocked the floodgates of the young Continental’s sympathies.</p> + +<p>“Dunn,” he said to the man in front of him, “give me a hand, that I may +get this poor fellow to my tent.”</p> + +<p>“The surgeon will find him here directly and have him moved to the field +hospital.”</p> + +<p>“He could not stand so long a trip; see how near he is already gone with +this bullet hole in his side. Come, I have a fancy not to see him die +here in the wet grass.”</p> + +<p>So Dunn lent his aid, and the wounded man was put down in Richard’s +tent, murmuring again that talismanic name.</p> + +<p>“He may possibly live till morning,” the surgeon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>said, when at last he +came from attending to his own men, “but he cannot be moved. I will try +and send some one to look after him.”</p> + +<p>Richard touched his cap, “If you please, I am off duty to-night; I will +willingly nurse him, if so you give me directions.”</p> + +<p>And the man was left in his care; and during the slow hours, word by +word and sentence by sentence, he patched together the fevered ramblings +of his patient, until he knew that the Joscelyn of his own hopes and +fears and dreams was identical with the girl of this other man’s +thoughts.</p> + +<p>With the knowledge something seemed to catch at his throat, to tighten +about his heart; and he went out and stood awhile at the tent door, +gazing up into the clear heavens whose steadfast stars were shining also +on the distant Carolina hills, watching a window behind which a girl lay +sleeping—dreaming perhaps of the man yonder on the pallet. Had he lost +her through this other one? Was his life to miss its one strong purpose, +in missing her?</p> + +<p>By and by, when he was calmer, he came again to the pallet where the +dying man lay, and picked up the sword which, along with his own, was +propped against the canvas wall of the tent. It was of beautiful +workmanship with a crest on the jewelled scabbard, and below a graven +name which, by the light of the tallow dip, Richard at last spelled +out:—</p> + +<p>“Barry.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p><p>He stood thinking for a moment. Why, this then was the man for whom +Ellen Singleton had mistaken him that night he played the squire to her +in a borrowed military cloak at the fête in Philadelphia. What strange +fate had brought them thus together? “The finest officer who wears the +red, and a lady-killer,” Dunn had said. And that tightness gathered +again at Richard’s heart, for where else had he heard of the man?</p> + +<p>Stay, was not Barry the name—Yes, it was the very name he had heard +coupled with Joscelyn’s that night while he lay hiding in the freezing +attic. “She is sitting on the stair with Captain Barry.” The very tones +of the speaker came back to him, bringing again that thirsty desire to +open the door and look for her which he had not been able to resist, +though life itself might pay the forfeit.</p> + +<p>He went back to the pallet, and bent down that he might see the face of +his patient. So this was the man who had won her away from the rest of +her company, the man to whom she had bent down so low that from the rear +only the dark crown of her hair could be seen as she sat on her +steps—this was the man to whose love tale she had listened smilingly, +while he himself was a prisoner hiding for his very life. A lady-killer, +Dunn had said; and well he could believe it from the traces of manly +beauty still lingering in the suffering face. A fierce jealousy tore at +his heart. Evidently, from his ramblings, Joscelyn had listened <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>to this +other’s wooing, and had written him letters, while she mocked him and +sent him never so much as one little line in answer to all the pages he +wrote her. He had always known that other men would love her,—it could +not be otherwise with her sweetness and her beauty,—but always in his +thoughts she had kept herself for him. Had it been a false hope; had she +loved this brave Briton who called upon her with such pathos of +tenderness? If so, then was his own dream-castle in ruins.</p> + +<p>By and by, just before the end, there came a lucid hour. The wounded man +turned his eyes questioningly upon his nurse.</p> + +<p>“I found you after the fight, so far in our lines that your own men had +missed you in their retreat, and the surgeon left you in my care,” +Richard said gently.</p> + +<p>“To die? Yes, I see it in your eyes.”</p> + +<p>“You fell at the head of your men, as a soldier wishes death to find +him.”</p> + +<p>The other smiled faintly, “My mother will perchance be a little +comforted by that. You will write her?”</p> + +<p>“Yes—And Joscelyn?”</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn?—how do you happen—?”</p> + +<p>“You talked of her in your delirium. She lives in the Carolina hill +country. I, too, know her and—love her.”</p> + +<p>And then each told something of his story to the other; and they clasped +hands as brave <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>men can when enmity and prejudice and jealousy are +swallowed up in the wide sympathy that lurks forever in the precincts of +the Great Shadow.</p> + +<p>“And when the war is over, and I tell her again of my love,” said +Richard, with that impulsive generosity that was ever one of his +characteristics, “I will tell her also of yours—and mayhap she will +choose rather to cherish your memory than to give herself to me.”</p> + +<p>And Barry turned his face to the wall and died, whispering his love for +her to the last. It was a strange scene, this midnight confessional +between two men who, all unknown to each other, had striven for the same +heart-goal—who in life would have been bitter and unrelenting rivals, +but who met and parted amid the shadows of death as friends and +brothers. Richard wrote it all to Joscelyn, eloquently, passionately; +portraying faithfully every emotion of the dying man.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“He loved you, Joscelyn, even as I do; only not so much, for +methinks no man could do that. But he was brave and manly, and to +have won his heart is proof of your sweetness and worth. He told me +many things of that fearful night when I lay up in your garret, and +downstairs you held your guests from all suspicion by your tact and +courage. He hated Tarleton for his distrust of you, and I let him +go to the far Shore in ignorance of how you saved me, fearing that +he would not understand, and that his last moments would be +imbittered by a useless jealousy.</p> + +<p>“Did you love him? Am I breaking your heart with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>this news, my +best beloved? If so, remember, I beseech you, how my own would +break to know it.”</p></div> + +<p>And Joscelyn read the letter by the fading sunset, and then sat with wet +eyes through the star-haunted gloaming, thinking of the young life that +had gone out in the red trail of war. She missed him as it did not seem +possible she could have missed any one who had been so short a while in +her consciousness.</p> + +<p>And sitting thus alone with her sorrow, she felt a hand on hers and an +arm slip around her neck.</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn, I could not stay away any longer,” whispered Betty’s voice in +the dark. “I had both of your notes; I know you are sorry, and I miss +you so much!”</p> + +<p>“Dear Betty, dear Betty, how glad I am you are come! I cannot tell you +how lonely and wretched my life is, and now my—my true friend is gone!” +and with her head on the girl’s bosom, she gave way to a nervous +sobbing.</p> + +<p>“Did you love him?” Betty asked, when at last she understood.</p> + +<p>“I—I do not know; but I have so few friends, and he loved me and +trusted me, and I shall miss him.”</p> + +<p>“Did you wish to marry him?”</p> + +<p>“I cannot say. Sometimes when I have been very lonely, and you all +turned from me, I have thought I did. To marry him and go away to a new +place and new friends seemed best. He was strong and brave, but he was +gentle and considerate, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>and he never hectored me—a girl likes not to +be hectored and quarrelled with in her courting.”</p> + +<p>“No,” answered Betty, sadly, understanding she had Richard in mind. +Often, with a woman’s instinct, she had pleaded with her brother to +humour Joscelyn more in her way of looking at things; but he had chosen +to attempt to set her right, or, at least, right as he saw it.</p> + +<p>“I must be going; mother is at Mistress Strudwick’s and will be angry if +she knows I came here,” Betty said at last, rising with a sigh. But +Joscelyn held her back with both hands.</p> + +<p>“Not yet, Betty, not yet; we can see her far down the street by the +lights from the windows. Stay a little longer; it is such a comfort to +have you.”</p> + +<p>“I wish I could come without this deception.”</p> + +<p>“I, too, with all my heart.”</p> + +<p>“You had a letter to-day; was it from Master Singleton?”</p> + +<p>“No; it was this sad one from Richard, by the same messenger that +brought yours. The last letter I had from Eustace was the one I sent you +some two weeks ago. Since he was then on the eve of going to New York to +carry letters to General Clinton, it is not likely he is among those in +the beleaguered city of Yorktown.”</p> + +<p>“I have been so glad to think this,” Betty answered, sighing. “Do you +know, Joscelyn, I saw him in the parlour yonder for a few minutes the +day the British marched?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span></p><p>“Yes; I told mother to have you here, and then I sent him back from +headquarters.”</p> + +<p>Betty kissed her gratefully. “I might have guessed it. It was such a +happy ten minutes! But, Joscelyn, mother never mentions his name except +to remind me that his father and mine were bitter enemies.”</p> + +<p>“Wait until Richard comes home; he doubtless will look at matters +differently; and as he says, so will your mother do.”</p> + +<p>“Not unless you plead for me; and even that may not now avail, for he +may share mother’s anger against you.”</p> + +<p>“Richard will not be angry with me when he returns,” Joscelyn answered +confidently; and Betty kissed her softly.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Joscelyn, if it could only have been Richard instead of Captain +Barry to win even this much of your heart! But there, I must be going; +some one is coming down the street.”</p> + +<p>“You will come again sometime?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, for I have wanted you so much.”</p> + +<p>“And I you.”</p> + +<p>They held each other close for a moment, and then Betty ran across the +street and dodged into the shadow of her own door. Her visit helped +Joscelyn immeasurably, in that it gave her a sense of sympathy. But she +could not shake off the depression of Richard’s news; it was a +culmination of the long strain upon her nervous system. In the +succeeding days she had fits of silent <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>brooding which sometimes, in the +sombre twilights, ended in tears. For the first time since the news of +Lexington, her neighbours found her grave and preoccupied. The fearless +badinage with which she had met every attack upon her partisan creed was +suddenly stayed, as though she heard not their thrusts and innuendoes. +And Mistress Strudwick watched her with a vague uneasiness, longing to +see the old, quick passion flame up now and then.</p> + +<p>But this frame of mind was rudely broken by the thrilling news of the +fall of Yorktown. She had expected it for days, but the reality roused +all of her former spirit, and put her once more upon the defensive.</p> + +<p>“Lord Cornwallis has surrendered?” she said calmly to Amanda Bryce and +the two gossips, who had run in to tell her the news and to gloat over +her discomfiture. “’Tis most courteous of you to bring me the +information so swiftly; you are quite out of breath with your race. I +shall immediately write my sincere condolences to his lordship that +wrong has triumphed over right. Will you not have a cup of tea with me, +ladies?—there is no longer any tax. No? Then I have the honour to wish +you a very good morning. Pray come again when you have further tidings.”</p> + +<p>She set the door open for them with the air of a sovereign condescending +to her subjects; and they went away humiliated and furious.</p> + +<p>“From the airs she gives herself, one would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>think Joscelyn Cheshire had +royal blood in her veins,” they said angrily. But when Mistress +Strudwick heard of the scene, she laughed long and heartily.</p> + +<p>“They deserved it, the carping crones! Would I had been there to see +them routed. Thank Heaven her spirit has come back; how I love her for +it, unreconstructed Tory as she is!”</p> + +<p>Never again was Joscelyn to deck herself in her scarlet bodice in honour +of an English victory; never again to tease her neighbours with her +taunting Tory ballads. The war was over; she had lost her cause; and +with her life all out of attune with her surroundings she must face the +inevitable. Seeing the relief in her mother’s face, she could not be +sorry that peace had come, though the terms were bitter; and so even in +her loss was there something of compensation.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<h3>HOMECOMINGS.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox5 bbox"><p>“The bugles sound the swift recall;<br /> +Cling, clang! backward all!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Home, and good night!”</span></p> +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">E. C. Stedman.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he war was over; the drums lay unbeaten, the snarling trumpets sang +their songs no more upon the level plains or sloping sides of far blue +hills; liberty had triumphed, and the scarlet insignia of kingly rule +had gone from the land forever. But peace did not bring the desired +order of things. The unstable government of an untrained congress could +not control the spirit of maraud and chaos that had so long dominated +certain classes of people. Eight years of warfare had left its scar on +the whole country, but particularly in those portions where the fighting +had fallen. The sanguine among the triumphant contestants had looked for +an immediate rehabilitation of affairs, thinking that the taps of war +would be the reveille of commerce and order and prosperity. But as yet +Americans were better soldiers than statesmen. They had to learn to +govern themselves, learn to wield the mighty power they had won; and at +first knowledge was slow in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span>coming. Private wrongs were remembered, +individual grievances were recalled. The spirit that refrained from +shouting over a fallen foe at Yorktown manifested itself at home in many +petty ways against the defeated Tories, so that among these latter was a +feeling of unprotected helplessness that made them sullen and restive.</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn,” Mary Singleton said, coming in one day when the winter was +at its fiercest, “father says he is going to Canada to stay until things +get settled. We cannot stir from our gate without receiving some +rudeness, and our property is threatened with confiscation, piece by +piece, on the ground that we used it to aid the king’s cause. Will you +come with us? We would love to have you.”</p> + +<p>“No, for my mother would not think of such a thing; and where she is, +there will I stay.”</p> + +<p>“Well, you had no man in the war; but against us the enmity is strong, +because Eustace actually bore arms in the king’s service.”</p> + +<p>“Will Eustace go with you?”</p> + +<p>“No; he writes that as soon as he gets his discharge, he means to return +here and accept whatever fate comes to him.”</p> + +<p>“I am glad. That is the right way to take his defeat. Your father is old +and worn with annoyance, but Eustace is young enough to meet the +struggle and win his way. Trust me; all will be well with him in the +end,” and Joscelyn’s eyes were on Betty’s window over the way.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span></p><p>“Edward Moore joins us in New York,” Mary said, with a blush.</p> + +<p>“And I shall not be there to play the part of bridesmaid! Well, I shall +content myself with putting a handful of rice and an old shoe into your +trunk.”</p> + +<p>After the Singletons were gone, Joscelyn was very lonely, for the only +house at which a welcome always met her was Mistress Strudwick’s.</p> + +<p>“You may say what you please, Amanda Bryce, but that girl comes here +when she likes, and stays as long as she pleases; and if there is +anybody I’m gladder to see, I do not know who it is,” said the stanch +old lady.</p> + +<p>Soundly she lectured Joscelyn at times, but the fault-finding always +began and ended with a caress, so there was no sting in it. Here the +girl sometimes met Betty; and the older woman, seeing the desire of +their hearts shining in their faces, encouraged them to be friends. +Here, too, Janet Cameron often came, and after the visit walked home +openly with her arm in Joscelyn’s, making merry little mouths at +Mistress Bryce as they passed her door. These visits and walks were +Joscelyn’s chief pleasure, and she stood sorely in need of recreation, +for of late she was thinner and more irritable than her mother had ever +seen her.</p> + +<p>“You need a course of bitters,” Mistress Strudwick said, opening her +medicine-box one day.</p> + +<p>“I have been taking such a course for eight years.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p><p>“Yes, Amanda Bryce’s tongue drips not with honey! But I shall talk with +your mother, and between us we will take you in hand and get the edge +off your nerves.” So Joscelyn dutifully yielded herself to her two +physicians, who took much delight in the teas and tonics they brewed for +her.</p> + +<p>During all these autumn and winter weeks, Richard Clevering had lain in +the field hospital at Yorktown, racked with pain and fever from the +wound he got when—singing a song of the Carolina hills—his regiment +stormed that gun-girt bastion on the British left, and the colonies were +free!</p> + +<p>Things would have gone better with him had he been content to lie still +and let the bones knit; but he could not stay away from that last scene +of the surrender, which made all the privations of the past worth while. +To miss that was to miss the joy of life, the glory of the fight, the +crown of the conqueror; and so he had pretended to be much stronger than +he was, and had gone to stand in his place when the British, with silent +drums and cased banners, marched from their surrendered fortifications, +and stacked arms between the martial lines of French and Continentals. +The sight compensated him for the pain the exertion entailed, so that he +never complained when, afterwards, the surgeon shook his head gravely +over the fever that flushed his veins. He had had his heart’s desire; he +would bear its results.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span></p><p>But in the early part of January, seeing a tedious recovery still ahead +of him, and the hospital facilities being so limited, he asked to be +sent home to be cared for by his own people. There would be no more +fighting, and his stay was an unnecessary burden upon the army +officials, whose hands were full trying to keep down the spirit of +insurrection that was fermenting the camp over the delay in the +soldiers’ pay. To relieve the strain upon the moneyless army coffers, +many of the men who had been invalided were allowed to return to their +homes. Thus it was, that Joscelyn, unconscious of the extent of the hurt +that had come to him—for he had written no particulars home—and also +of his dismissal, answered a knock at her door one bleak January day, +and gave a great cry at sight of the weary man leaning against the +veranda railing, with an empty sleeve pinned helplessly to the bandaged +arm beneath.</p> + +<p>“Richard Clevering!”</p> + +<p>“Ay, Richard come back with a crushed arm, but a sound heart to claim +you, unworthy though he now knows himself to be of such a prize, +Joscelyn, Cornwallis has struck his martial colours, will you surrender +to me for love’s dear sake?”</p> + +<p>He had come into the hall and closed the swaying door against the wind, +while she retreated backward until she stood close to the wall, her +hands behind her.</p> + +<p>“I owe you life and all the gratitude that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>means, but it is out of my +love for you, which has grown with every hour of my absence, that I ask +this—will you come to me, Joscelyn?”</p> + +<p>She did not speak, but slowly she shook her head, her eyes meeting his +with a curious compassion. For one long minute he looked at her, +searchingly, yearningly; then his outstretched arm fell to his side.</p> + +<p>“Then is the war not over for me,” he said sadly.</p> + +<p>He went with her into the sitting-room, and, with the luxurious +hearth-glow brightening his face and taking that deathly pallor out of +it, the while her magnetic presence kindled a tempestuous fire in his +veins, he told her the story of that final surrender and of his hurt, +softening the former narrative as best he might, remembering how she had +wished it otherwise. Then with a half-whimsical, half-pathetic touch +upon his bandaged arm, he said:—</p> + +<p>“The surgeon said that with time and care this would heal, but the +accident has left me but one hand wherewith to begin that other campaign +which means so much to me,—for if I win you not, I might as well have +perished at the hands of the Redcoats.”</p> + +<p>As she listened, while the afternoon wore away, she was conscious of +some change in him. Not that his tone showed less of resolution to +achieve his purpose; it was rather an absence of the over-weening +self-confidence which had so offended <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span>her in the past. Five years of +warfare and baffled wooing had taught him something of self-distrust, +something of humility which became him well. The empty sleeve and the +emaciated, listless figure touched her with a quick pity, in such +violent contrast were they to his former robust activity and superb +proportions, so that she sighed and turned her face aside.</p> + +<p>And he, on his part, was studying her, finding again, with a thrill of +joy, the same saucy curves about her lips, the same glinting blue lights +in her eyes that had held his heart captive in the past; and noting, +too, the touch of womanly dignity which had in some wise supplanted the +impetuosity of the old days. The girl of eighteen had become a woman of +twenty-three since that day she had laughed down upon the Continentals +marching away to Valley Forge. But there was not an attraction lost; +rather was every charm ripened and perfected by the hallowing touches of +growth and development. If he had loved her in the past, a thousand +times more did he love her now in her splendid womanhood. Had she cared +for Barry? Always the question was a stab; and with it now there came +the first quick doubt of the final healing of his arm. Could she ever +love him if he should be maimed like this forever?</p> + +<p>Looking up suddenly, she found his eyes upon her face in such a wistful +gaze that she flushed involuntarily, and a painful silence fell between +them. Intuitively she felt that this was not the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>same Richard who had +gone away, this earnest, tender man with not a trace of arrogance in his +manner. Had he always been like this, they need not have quarrelled. She +had been willing to overlook much had he only left her a right to her +own opinions, and treated the views her father had taught her with +respect.</p> + +<p>“Do you know,” she said, breaking the pause with a little nervous laugh, +“that if you are to preserve the good will of your neighbours, you must +stay away from me?”</p> + +<p>“Then do I this minute forswear their friendship, for to stay from you +would be to remain outside of Paradise. Only tell me one thing,—you did +not hate me for the news I wrote you of Barry?”</p> + +<p>“Nay, it was the one of your letters I felt drawn to answer.”</p> + +<p>He took her unresisting hand and kissed it softly. “If you loved him, I +would I had died in his place.”</p> + +<p>And then again that silence fell between them, while at his heart was +biting that most helpless of all jealousy—the jealousy of the dead. +Against a living rival one may contend with hope; but when that on which +the heart is set has come to be but a memory, incapable of blunder or +cruelty, the contest becomes useless, or pitifully unequal. Yearningly +Richard’s eyes studied the face before him, and yet he would not ask her +the question that burned in his heart. Some day she would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span>tell him the +truth of her own accord; until then he must wait and suffer.</p> + +<p>His return, she foresaw, was to be to her at once a relief and an +embarrassment, for she would not consent to his making public her share +in his escape of the winter, lest it look like a plea on her part for a +cessation of hostilities.</p> + +<p>“I have held my own against them all these years; I will not ask for any +terms, now that the end has come, and my side has gone down in defeat,” +she said.</p> + +<p>“But, Joscelyn, think how they would adore you for such a service to +their country! My information was most useful to General Greene.”</p> + +<p>“I did it not for sake of their country.”</p> + +<p>“Well, then, for sake of their countryman. They love me, if you do not.” +He leaned toward her laughing, yet pleading; and she noted how honest +and pleasant were his eyes. But she held to her point against all of his +arguments; and so he was feign to yield except in regard to his mother; +there he was firm.</p> + +<p>“I never dreamed but that she knew, for the quick movements of the last +campaign left no time for letters to reach me from home. Had I not +thought you would tell her as soon as the British were well out of town, +I should have asked a furlough, and come home to set you right. To think +what you have suffered for saving my poor life!”</p> + +<p>And so it was that half an hour later Mistress <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>Clevering came hastily +in without the ceremony of knocking, and taking Joscelyn in her +arms,—to Mistress Cheshire’s amazement,—said many grateful and +affectionate things.</p> + +<p>“When I think of what you have done for us, I am bowed down with +humiliation for the cruelty with which I have requited you. Oh, my dear, +my dear! had you only told me and your mother at the time, things would +have been very different.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” answered the girl, demurely, “so different that Master +Clevering’s life would have paid the penalty of his daring. Nay, it was +a game at which only one could play with safety. You could have done +naught but share my anxiety, and that were no help.”</p> + +<p>“And to think how I have scolded and blamed you for the quarrel between +me and Ann,” said her mother, tearfully; but Joscelyn’s tender answer +comforted her.</p> + +<p>“And here comes Betty to make her peace with you, too,” Aunt Clevering +said, as the breathless girl entered.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Betty and I have been friends these many weeks, as dear Mistress +Strudwick can testify,” Joscelyn said, putting her arm affectionately +around Betty, who with a grateful cry had sprung to her side. And from +the doorway, Richard thought he had never seen a more beautiful picture.</p> + +<p>Thus was the breach that had yawned between the two families healed; and +the sorest ache in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>Joscelyn’s heart was cured as she witnessed the +happiness of her mother who, with a firmness scarcely to be expected, +had given up her old friend and held stanchly to her daughter, although +she held that daughter to blame. It was touching to see her childish +delight in the renewal of the old relations. A dozen times a day she was +in and out of the two houses, for Richard’s wound afforded her many +pretexts for kindly ministrations. He never left his bed except to lie +on the sofa by the window, for his strength seemed suddenly to have +failed him after the sustained effort he had made to reach home. Often +he wished Joscelyn would come in her mother’s stead; but for her own +reasons the girl kept her distance, so that sometimes he did not see her +for days together. And every day that she stayed away the jealous pain +bit deeper into his heart.</p> + +<p>But one day she came of her own accord. There had been a knock and the +sound of a man’s voice at the door, followed by the maid making some +excuse for Mistress Clevering; and presently, when all had grown silent, +Betty came through the sitting-room with a face so white that Richard +called out from where he lay to know what was the matter. But she did +not stop to answer, and so he waited in a troubled doubt while the clock +ticked off a slow twenty minutes. Then the door opened, and Joscelyn +came straight up to his couch, a strange light of pleading in her eyes.</p> + +<p>“Richard,” she said, and his face brightened, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>for she had taken to +calling him Master Clevering with a formality he hated. “Richard, if a +man be true and honest and loves a woman, should he not have the chance +to tell her so and win her?”</p> + +<p>“Most assuredly.”</p> + +<p>“And old feuds and differences of a former generation, with which he had +nothing to do, should have no weight to hold him back?”</p> + +<p>“Why—what mean you?”</p> + +<p>“This; that even as you love me,” and a brilliant colour dyed her cheeks +at mention of it, “so does Eustace Singleton love Betty.”</p> + +<p>“I had half guessed as much—and I am sorry.”</p> + +<p>“And Betty loves him. Nay, lie still and look not so angrily at me. +There is no one to blame; a woman’s heart, like a man’s, asks no +permission in the giving of itself.”</p> + +<p>“But Betty knew—”</p> + +<p>“Yes, she knew all the opposition in store for her, and she made her own +fight; but love takes no dictation.”</p> + +<p>“Right well do I know that.”</p> + +<p>“Then you have no room for a quarrel with her; rather should your +sympathy be on her side. All her happiness is set on Eustace; he is her +true lover, has been for years,—and I have resolved so to aid her, that +you and Aunt Clevering shall not break her heart by a cruel and useless +separation.” She stepped back and threw up <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>her head; just so had she +looked a year ago, when she bade defiance to the short colonel while he +himself crouched in her shadowy garret. For a moment they gazed at each +other steadily, then she was again beside him, her eyes luminous with a +gentle entreaty:—</p> + +<p>“Richard, if—if I loved you with all my soul, would you let my mother’s +dislike, if she did dislike you, stand between us?”</p> + +<p>“My God, no!”</p> + +<p>“Eustace is a man like you—and Betty loves him like that.”</p> + +<p>He saw the drift of her meaning but he did not answer, and thus for +another minute they looked into each other’s eyes unwaveringly; then his +gaze fell, and with a sudden delicious softening of manner, she stooped +and took his hand.</p> + +<p>“Richard, Eustace is yonder in my parlour,—come back like a brave man +to begin life all over, and suffer anything to be near Betty. He has +been denied entrance at your door. Bid me bring him here to you. If +not—then will I take Betty to him, even though I should thus lose yours +and Aunt Clevering’s friendship forever.”</p> + +<p>“You make hard terms.”</p> + +<p>“I am dealing with a hard man.”</p> + +<p>“Think you so, sweetheart? Methought I had ever been gentle to you. +Betty’s happiness is very dear to me—” he broke off, sighing. She still +held his hand, or rather he held hers, for his was the stronger grasp. +Suddenly, with that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>same enchanting gentleness, she bent close to him, +and laid her cheek against his tingling fingers:—</p> + +<p>“Thank you, Richard, for yielding; I knew when once you understood, you +could not be so cruel as to refuse. I will bring Eustace at once.”</p> + +<p>“But, Joscelyn, I did not say—”</p> + +<p>“Oh, but you looked your consent—and I never saw your eyes so +beautiful, such a tender gray.” He flushed with pleasure, still, +however, protesting; but she was already at the door, whence she looked +back at him with a roguish smile, “I shall give you half an hour to make +Aunt Clevering see things as we do. At the end of that time I will be +here with Eustace; and if you wish to go on being friends with me, be +sure to have on your very best manners and—and that beautiful light in +your eyes.”</p> + +<p>She kept her word; no one ever knew what passed between Richard and his +mother, but an hour later Mistress Clevering, stiff of lip, but +courteous of manner, bade Betty take Master Singleton from Richard’s +room to the parlour, and find him some refreshment. And when Betty had +obeyed, Joscelyn softly closed the door behind them, shutting them into +a rose-hued world of their own, where it were sacrilege for another to +intrude. Upstairs she heard Richard calling her entreatingly, but +remembering by what means her victory over his prejudice had been won, +she pretended not to hear, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>but ran swiftly into the street, and reached +Mistress Strudwick’s door with such a glowing face that that lady +exclaimed:—</p> + +<p>“Hoity-toity, child! still letting your cheeks play the Royalist, +although the war is done? Your sweetheart should see you now. In sooth, +I think Amanda Bryce would even agree that you are pretty. Come here and +tell an old woman what all these blushes mean.”</p> + +<p>And Joscelyn’s fibbing tongue said it was only the race she had run in +the wind from her door.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>AN UNANSWERED QUESTION.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox2 bbox"><p>“As o’er the grass, beneath the larches there<br /> +We gayly stepped, the high noon overhead,<br /> +Then Love was born—was born so strong and fair.”</p> +<p class="right">—<span class="smcap">Gipsy Song.</span></p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">A</span>lthough Joscelyn continued to hold herself aloof from Richard, yet she +was conscious of his protecting influence in other ways besides the +healing of that family quarrel that had been such a burden to her and to +them all. Most of the women of her set continued to cut her outright, or +to treat her with the scantest courtesy; but there were no more threats +concerning her; the boys who had hooted under her window left off their +insolent ways, and the merchants and tradespeople no longer gave her +indifferent service. And in all this she recognized Richard’s work, for +he had openly espoused her cause, and had let it be known that those who +offended or ill-used her should later on be answerable to him. From the +day of his coming, she felt herself shadowed by an unobtrusive but +persistent watchfulness that plucked many a thorn from her path; and +after the stormy months that had passed, she could not but be grateful +for the calm. Invalid though he was, she intuitively felt his to be the +stronger will, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span>and made no fight against what he did in her behalf. The +protection for which she had longed had come to her, and she was glad to +feel his strength between her and her persecutors. Never in any boastful +way did he remind her of the defeat of her cause; and tacitly she +acknowledged his generosity. The very perils they had shared drew them +together with that subtle bond of sympathy a mutual interest creates; +and so seldom was there a return to their former sparring that Mistress +Strudwick protested she knew not which had the better manners.</p> + +<p>“I declare, my dear,” she said, pinching Joscelyn’s cheek, “you are so +beautifully behaved of late that I begin to find you a bit tiresome. +Methinks I must stir up Amanda Bryce to pay you a visit and talk over +the war, or else we’ll all be stagnating for lack of excitement.”</p> + +<p>“Well, after these eight years of fermentation, stagnation is just now +the special estate to which I aspire.”</p> + +<p>“So? Well, Richard here prefers the estate of matrimony. Is it not true, +my lad?” And from the sofa Richard’s eyes said yes; whereupon the old +lady went on, nodding her head with mock solemnity, “And since one of +you wants stagnation and one wants matrimony, I am not so sure but that +you are of the same mind, for some folk find these things of a piece. +And so, miss, you may have come around to Richard’s way of thinking +after all.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span></p><p>And seeing Joscelyn stiffen, Richard was sorry that the conversation had +taken such a personal turn; for the two had come in to pay him a visit. +That was one thing that troubled him—she never came by herself; always +it was her mother or Betty or Janet Cameron she brought with her as +though she feared to trust herself alone with him, wishing, perchance, +to hear no more of his love-making. And even with these others she came +so seldom. He could not go to her, for the hard rough journey home had +racked his arm and set the fever to throbbing again in his blood, and he +must remain quiet, or dire consequences were threatened.</p> + +<p>But one February night, when she had stayed away several days, and the +longing in his breast grew unbearable, he sent for her. The wind without +howled like some hungry creature seeking its prey, and the +white-fingered spirit of the snowstorm tapped weirdly at his window. But +he gave it no heed; storm or shine, he must see her this night of all +others; and so a word of entreaty was sent across the street. She came +at once, a brilliant apparition in a scarlet shawl over which the snow +lay powdered in shining crystals; on her lips and in her eyes the smile +of which he had dreamed in the copper and crimson sunsets on the +prison-ship. He gathered her cold hands into his feverish ones.</p> + +<p>“You knew I must see you this night?”</p> + +<p>“Yes; I felt you would send for me, for I knew we were thinking of the +same things.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span></p><p>“A year ago to-night you and I stood in jeopardy of our lives.”</p> + +<p>She nodded; all day she had been living over those fearful hours of +which this day was the anniversary.</p> + +<p>“Yes, a year ago to-night Tarleton held us in his toils.”</p> + +<p>“We have never talked of that dreadful time; now I want you to tell me +everything you can recall of it. Sit down.”</p> + +<p>As she obeyed, the wide shawl fell away and left in sight the silver +brocade of her gown, and her shoulders rising white and beautiful from +the lace of the low bodice. He started, and raised himself upon his +elbow. Was he dreaming? No; the powder and the rose were in her hair, +the saucy patch at the corner of her mouth. She had not forgotten; just +so had she looked when she faced Tarleton, and risked her womanhood for +his own safety. He could not speak, but his eyes did full homage to her +beauty.</p> + +<p>“I knew you would send for me, so I was ready,” she said, and smiled +again. So it was for him she had robed herself thus!—there was a thrill +of ecstasy in his veins. And then when he still did not speak, for sheer +joy of looking at her, she began to talk of that terrible day; and both +of them lived over in a quick rush of memory all its hopes and fears, +its uncertainties and dangers. Her fingers were icy cold, and the very +tremors that had then possessed her, crept <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>again through her veins as +she went from scene to scene, and he learned for the first time all of +her deceptions and trials. So absorbed was she that she did not even +know he had taken her hands in his, until she felt the hot pressure at +the end of her narrative. Then when there seemed nothing left to tell, +and he still looked at her in a silence more eloquent than words, she +grew restless and rose to go; but he caught her skirt.</p> + +<p>“Not yet, not yet! Betty is happy with her lover in the parlour, and +mother is somewhere down there acting propriety or else fast asleep. For +this one evening, at least, you shall belong to me.”</p> + +<p>And then when those hot, trembling fingers had drawn her again to her +seat, he went on:—</p> + +<p>“There is one question I have wanted to ask you all these months—” And +then, for very fear of her answer, he hesitated and substituted another. +“Why did you not come back to me that last night? You knew I was waiting +for you, longing for you with every heart-throb.”</p> + +<p>“It was so late.”</p> + +<p>“Late? What mattered an hour on the dial when I wanted you so much?”</p> + +<p>And she flushed and hesitated, remembering she had not gone back at that +unseemingly hour lest he should misunderstand her; men were so cold in +their judgments. Looking at him now she was ashamed of that doubt of +him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span></p><p>“Was it in truth the lateness of the hour, or—or because of what Barry +said to you on the stair? I opened the attic door and saw you, and I +knew he was talking of his love. My God, how I envied him! Was it for +that you stayed away from me?”</p> + +<p>She turned her head aside with a gesture that hurt him like a +knife-thrust. Then the question that had burnt in his thoughts, and +filled his heart with cankering jealousy all these weeks, came out:—</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn, did you love him? Tell me the truth in mercy.”</p> + +<p>Slowly her eyes came back to him, soft and blue, and kindled with a +flame he had never seen before. He rose on his elbow to meet the answer, +eager yet fearful; but before she could speak, Betty opened the door.</p> + +<p>“Eustace and I are coming to sit with you awhile, Richard, for you two +must be better acquainted,” she said to him; and with the blindness that +is a part of love, neither she nor Eustace saw that their coming was +unwelcome. Before they left, Joscelyn had slipped away, carrying his +question and its answer in her heart. But before she went to bed, she +opened the box where she kept her treasures, and kneeling in front of +her fire, laid upon the glowing embers the scarlet sash of an officer in +the king’s service.</p> + +<p>“I have no right to keep you any longer,” she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span>whispered, as the silk +cracked and crinkled, and passed away in a smoke-fringed flame; “no +right, for now I know, I know!”</p> + +<p>The quiet of the town was now frequently broken; for as February drew to +a close, some of the soldiers began to straggle home, some on furlough, +some on dismissal. Billy Bryce, hungry for the toothsome things in his +mother’s pantry and impatient for a sight of the yellow curls that +sunned themselves on Janet’s head, came first. But ten minutes spent in +that young woman’s company so dampened his spirits, that for days his +mother’s utmost efforts in culinary arts failed to tempt him. Janet knew +the very hour of his arrival, and she also knew that it was two hours +before he came to seek her. She could not know that his stay with his +mother had been as unwilling as it was dutiful; so to complicate matters +a little more she had gone out to pay some calls that might have waited +a month. But he found her at last on Joscelyn’s porch, her hands in her +muff, her curls bobbing from under her hood to the fur-trimmed tippet +below, where the winter sunshine seemed to gather itself into a focus. +He waved to her from halfway down the square, but she only squinted up +her eyes as in a vain effort at recognition.</p> + +<p>“Well, I declare,” she exclaimed patronizingly, as he sprang eagerly up +the steps, “if it isn’t Mistress Bryce’s little Billy! Why, Billy, +child, you must have grown quite an inch since you went away. How is +your dear mother to-day?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></p><p>Her tone and manner were indescribably superior, as though she were +talking to a child of six, so that the amazed and abashed boy, instead +of hugging her in his long arms as he wanted to, took the tips of the +little fingers she put out to him, and stammeringly and solicitously +asked if she had been quite well since he saw her last. She said it was +a long time to remember, but she would do the best she could, and +immediately began to count off on her fingers the number of headaches +and toothaches she had had in the past two years; until Joscelyn, sorry +for the boy’s unprovoked misery, stopped her abruptly, and finally sent +Billy across the street to pour out his disappointment to Richard.</p> + +<p>“Janet, you little barbarian, you have no heart!”</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes I have,” replied that imperturbable young woman; “I have a +great big heart for a grown man, but you see I do not particularly care +for children who are still dangling at their mother’s apron string.”</p> + +<p>Even a lecture from Richard, to whom she was much attached, did her no +good; for all the while he was speaking she sat studying the effect of +her high-heeled shoe on Betty’s blue footstool, and answered his +peroration about Billy’s broken heart with the utterly irrelevant +assertion that Frederick Wyley said she had the prettiest foot in the +colonies. Did Richard agree with him? So Billy’s cause was not advanced +any, and Richard <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span>began to advise him to think no more of this +yellow-haired tormentor.</p> + +<p>“I declare, Billy Bryce looks like a child with perpetual cramps,” +Mistress Strudwick exclaimed to Joscelyn one day, when the lad passed +the window where the two sat; and then she glanced down the room to her +medicine-box.</p> + +<p>“But it is a course of sweets, not bitters, that he needs,” laughed +Joscelyn. “It’s his heart and not his stomach that ails Billy.”</p> + +<p>“Half the lovesickness in the world is nothing but dyspepsia; mighty few +cases of disappointed affection outlast a torpid liver.”</p> + +<p>“I never heard you make such an unsentimental remark.”</p> + +<p>“You never heard me tell such a truth. Bone-set and senna is the thing +for Billy, and I’ll see that he gets a bottle; if it does not cure his +disappointment, it will at least kill off that particular brand of long +face he is wearing. No wonder Janet turns up her nose at him.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, I begin to think she is permanently at outs with him.”</p> + +<p>Then other soldiers began to arrive. Thomas Nash got sick-leave from +Washington’s staff; and from the south came Master Strudwick, more +anxious for a sight of home and wife than for the gold which the +dissatisfied army was awaiting; and out of the north came Peter Ruffin, +a weird wraith of his former self, to tell anew the horrible story of +the prison-ships. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>other Hillsboro’ man, who had been with him had +succumbed to the plague, and gone to swell the number of those at whose +shallow graves the hungry sea was forever calling.</p> + +<p>“And Dame Grant?” asked Richard, when Peter came to see him.</p> + +<p>“She, too, fell a victim to the disease of the hulks, and sorely did we +miss her. I knew you had escaped in safety, because one day she came to +the ship wearing a new woollen hood, and when we twitted her about it +over the rail, asking her if it was a lover’s gift, she said that Dick +Clevering’s sweetheart had sent it to her out of gratitude from the +south.”</p> + +<p>“I helped to knit it,” Betty cried, while Joscelyn’s eyes were not +lifted from the floor. In the semi-twilight of the room, Richard reached +out and touched her hand gently.</p> + +<p>“It was like your generous heart.”</p> + +<p>“But I made it out of the reddest wool I could find, with never a touch +of blue or buff,” she answered, laughing; but Richard was content.</p> + +<p>Nor did these home-coming men bring the only tidings from the outside +world. Now and then letters came that set the tongues to wagging; now +with news of Washington’s refusal of a crown, now with a description of +Mary Singleton’s marriage to Edward Moore. Janet refused persistently to +show her letters which came in the Halifax post, but one day Richard had +one from Colborn that made him laugh with delight:—</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>“The miniature is set in a narrow gold frame, without jewels; for +although I won my promotion, it was only a lieutenancy. However, I +am content. It was at Guilford Court-house, in your own Carolina +country, the day Tarleton was wounded. Soon I am going home, with +my pockets full of American pebbles, to claim the original, and +bring her back here to this great country to enjoy the freedom I am +glad you won.”</p></div> + +<p>And when Joscelyn went home, after hearing the letter read, she again +opened her box of treasures and took from it a shining gold piece, and +looked at it with a startled sweetness in her eyes.</p> + +<p><a name="illo7" id="illo7"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 325px;"> +<img src="images/i344.jpg" class="ispace" width="325" height="500" alt="“‘MY HEART’S PRISONER FOR TIME AND ETERNITY.’”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“‘MY HEART’S PRISONER FOR TIME AND ETERNITY.’”</span> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + +<h3>THE END OF THE THREAD.</h3> + +<div class="centerbox5 bbox"><p>“Does not all the blood within me<br /> +Leap to meet thee, leap to meet thee,<br /> +As the spring to meet the sunshine!”</p> +<p class="right">—“Hiawatha.”</p></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">A</span>fter a few weeks Richard was able to leave his couch and move about a +little, still hampered, however, by splints and bandages; for in his +fevered tossings he had hurt his arm anew, and the setting had to be +gone over again. The doctor’s face was very grave as he warned him +against another accident.</p> + +<p>One afternoon, being lonely and having no better way to pass the time, +he went with Betty to her sewing society. There he protested he wished +to make himself useful, and was quite willing to snip threads and tie +knots. But his offer was received with scoffs, and instead he was +forthwith enthroned in the best chair, served with coffee by one girl, +and with cake by another, and petted and praised like a prince.</p> + +<p>“And now,” said Janet Cameron, taking the stool at his feet and +preparing to look very busy, “while we sew, you shall tell us a story of +your camp life,—something that will make our blood <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span>curdle and tingle +like it used to do when the war messengers rode into town, and we knew +not what tidings they brought.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, tell us a story, Master Clevering,” they all cried, and settled +themselves to listen.</p> + +<p>“Let it be about a real hero, Richard; and make him as tall as Goliath +and as strong as Samson. We’ll credit anything you say,” laughed Janet, +biting off a length of thread.</p> + +<p>“And if you wish to keep Janet’s attention to the end, give him jet +black hair and call him Frederick,” cried Dorothy Graham. Whereat there +was a general laugh, and for which personality the speaker got a prick +from Janet’s needle.</p> + +<p>“One need not draw on his imagination for heroes in these stirring +times, Janet. The land is full of them,” Richard answered, catching one +of her shining curls and twisting it about his finger, “though of course +jet black hair and the name of Frederick is a combination to inspire any +story-teller.”</p> + +<p>And then he told them of Monmouth day,—of its exultant beginning, its +strange changes and chances, its palsying despair, its victory snatched +from defeat. And while the story was nearing its climax and the needles +were idlest, who should pass along the opposite sidewalk but Mistress +Joscelyn Cheshire, her skirts held daintily out of the slush and snow, +while a riotous March wind set her throat ribbons in a flutter, and +kissed her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span>cheeks to a glow a lover might have envied. A more charming +vision it was hard to conjure up, and the story-teller’s narrative +faltered, and his words trailed off into silence as he gazed. But +immediately the slumbering ill-will of the sempsters began to show +itself in sundry nods and head tossings.</p> + +<p>“There goes the Tory beauty,” said one sneering voice, “parading herself +before us out of very defiance, no doubt.”</p> + +<p>“She has been but to old Polly Little’s to carry her some soup,” Betty +said hotly.</p> + +<p>“And there was no other afternoon for her to go, and no other path to +take but the one by this door where we might see her! You and Richard +are foolish to be always defending her; she showed you small gratitude +last winter, telling the secrets of your house.”</p> + +<p>“Yes; and we know she sent and received spying letters about us to the +British commander. I never speak to her, Tory ingrate that she is!”</p> + +<p>And then while Betty fell to crying and Janet scolded back, declaring +Joscelyn was better than all of them, the criticisms grew so harsh, and +so incisive were the shrugs and lifted brows, that Richard forgot his +wound, forgot the pledge of secrecy upon him, forgot everything but his +anger, and rising up, cried out:—</p> + +<p>“Listen; I will tell you another story, not of a hero, but of a heroine, +a slip of a girl whose courage equalled anything I ever saw upon the +bloodiest <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span>battle-field, in whose presence the bravest of the brave must +uncover in reverence.”</p> + +<p>And then he told them the whole story of his hiding and escape while +Cornwallis held the town the winter gone. Told it forcibly, graphically +as he knew how, putting Joscelyn in such a heroic light that her +maligners held down their heads in shame and confusion, feeling +themselves to be all unworthy in comparison; and Dorothy was crying upon +her sewing, and Janet’s arm was about his neck in an unconscious, +breathless gratitude for Joscelyn.</p> + +<p>And those letters which had excited their wrath?—there was nothing of +treason or espionage in them; they were but love notes from a British +officer whose chivalric homage had been an honour to any woman. He knew, +for he had put her answers into the breastpocket of the young officer +the day they buried him from the battle-field on the banks of the river +that flows forever to the sea.</p> + +<p>So he finished; and thus did Joscelyn stand before them at last in her +true colours.</p> + +<p>Then with the heat of his anger still upon him, and not waiting for +Betty, Richard got his hat and quitted the house. After that scene, the +air of the room stifled him. He could not be sorry for what he had done, +but he must go straight to Joscelyn and tell her himself, and make what +peace with her he might. He could better afford to bear her anger than +to hear her maligned by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span>those who would be utterly incapable of her +courage or her sacrifice. He had always known he must tell his story if +he heard her slandered.</p> + +<p>He was very weak from his long stay indoors, and the excitement of the +scene through which he had just passed had left his brain dizzy, so that +he was all unfit to take the homeward journey alone. He did not notice +the ice on the crossing until suddenly he felt himself slipping—faster, +faster. He made one frantic effort to regain his balance, missed his +footing, and came down with a crash and a groan upon the jagged +cobblestones. He heard a woman’s voice scream out in terror, saw +Joscelyn kneel beside him, and then he fainted.</p> + +<p>It destroyed his last chance,—that terrible fall,—the doctors said; +for the arm had again been fractured and lacerated beyond cure, and to +lose it was the one hope of life; and even that hope was but a slender +one. When Joscelyn heard this, she stayed all the afternoon in her room, +holding the gold piece very hard and tight and weeping bitterly.</p> + +<p>But the operation was successful; and for long days the patient lay +quiet, getting back his hold on the world. His recovery was slower even +than had been expected, but it was sure, and that was enough for +thankfulness. His mother was telling him this one gusty April twilight, +when Joscelyn came into the room on one of her rare visits. The door was +open, so they had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span>not known she was there; and stopping to remove her +wrap, for the day was cool and showery, she heard the end of their talk.</p> + +<p>“Fretting is wrong, Richard. You should be thankful for so sure a +recovery.”</p> + +<p>“Perchance I should; but what avails health when a man may not have that +which is dearer than the strength of giants?”</p> + +<p>“And what may that be, my son?”</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn. I love her—love her beyond all words, all thoughts; and now +I shall never possess her.”</p> + +<p>“I had long ago guessed your love for her,” his mother said slowly; then +added, after a pause, “but I see not why you should not possess her; you +have a true heart, a goodly property, and a shapely figure which this +accident will scarcely mar; a man like that has but to ask—”</p> + +<p>“Nay, that is just it; a man maimed like me has no right to hamper a +woman’s life—to ask her love. She is grateful for the protection I have +brought her, but she has no thought for me beside. I lie here and watch +that clock every hour of every day, longing to see her come, hoping for +some sign of awakened love, but there is none. That she comes so seldom +is evidence that she means me to understand this. I shall never dare ask +her again to marry me, but I shall love her always—always.”</p> + +<p>There was an infinite pathos in the last words that silenced his mother, +and drew something like <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span>a sob from the girl in the shadow of the +curtained door. How generous he was; how brave and true he had always +been! Never once, even in their days of quarrel and make-up, had she +known him lacking in courage and generosity. What would her life be now +without him, for had he not made all the crooked ways straight before +her; had he not given her back the love and esteem of her neighbours, +her old place in the community? Was it not to him she owed all this, and +her mother’s happiness besides? Gratitude, did he say? Surely that was +not all there was in her heart, for gratitude did not make a girl shy +and sensitive and dreamy. It was not gratitude that had made her weep so +passionately over his suffering and his loss, and kiss a senseless coin +in the dark of her chamber. From that hour she had worn it in a silken +bag about her neck; she drew it out now and held it in her trembling +fingers.</p> + +<p>Presently Mistress Clevering rose and quitted the room by another door, +unwilling that Richard should see her emotion. Joscelyn hesitated upon +the threshold, held back by a palpitant timidity, until across the +firelit silence there came her name in a sigh that was half a sob:—</p> + +<p>“Joscelyn—lost—lost!”</p> + +<p>Then with a sudden resolve she came out of the shadow into the dim light +of the room, and kneeling by his couch, drew his one arm over her +shoulder and laid her head on his breast.</p> + +<p>“I am here—Richard.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span></p><p>“You? Dear love, dear love, what does this mean?”</p> + +<p>“Can you not guess?” she whispered, slipping the gold piece into his +hand, her own tremulous with emotion.</p> + +<p>“I dare not.”</p> + +<p>“What was the gold piece to be?” Her voice was scarcely more than a +thread of sound.</p> + +<p>“Our wedding ring—at least, I hoped so once.”</p> + +<p>She pressed his fingers together over it, her face still hidden on his +breast. “Give it back to me sometime—in that shape.”</p> + +<p>“You mean you will marry me? Speak quick, beloved!”</p> + +<p>“I mean that—that the war is over, and I surrender myself—your +prisoner, an you will take me.”</p> + +<p>“My heart’s prisoner for time and eternity; thank God!”</p> + +<p>A burned-out log snapped and fell to either side of the andirons, +sending a shower of golden sparks up the wide chimney. She raised her +head and looked at him, and by the fleeting gleam of the fire he found +at last the love-light for which he had so long waited shining in the +depths of her sea-blue eyes.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h3><span class="smcap">Transcriber’s Note:</span></h3> + +<p>Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters’ errors; otherwise, +every effort has been made to remain true to the author’s words and +intent.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Joscelyn Cheshire, by Sara Beaumont Kennedy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOSCELYN CHESHIRE *** + +***** This file should be named 35519-h.htm or 35519-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/1/35519/ + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Joscelyn Cheshire + A Story of Revolutionary Days in the Carolinas + +Author: Sara Beaumont Kennedy + +Release Date: March 8, 2011 [EBook #35519] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOSCELYN CHESHIRE *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + JOSCELYN CHESHIRE + + A STORY OF REVOLUTIONARY DAYS + IN THE CAROLINAS + + BY + SARA BEAUMONT KENNEDY + + NEW YORK + DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. + 1901 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1901, + BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. + + + + +[Illustration: "SHE SWEPT HIM A COURTESY FULL OF OPEN DEFIANCE AND +RIDICULE."] + + + + + To my Husband + WALKER KENNEDY + THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. Cupid and Mars 1 + II. The March of the Continentals 10 + III. Onward to Valley Forge 20 + IV. The Company on the Veranda 25 + V. Winding the Skein 35 + VI. The Fete at Philadelphia 43 + VII. A Dare-devil Deed 56 + VIII. A Maid's Dream and the Devil's Wooing 65 + IX. On Monmouth Plain 73 + X. In Clinton's Tents 81 + XI. From Camp to Prison 93 + XII. A Message out of the North 104 + XIII. Dreams 120 + XIV. News of Love and War 128 + XV. An Awakening and a Mutiny 141 + XVI. Into the Jaws of Death 151 + XVII. Out of the Shadow and into the Sun 163 + XVIII. "Kiss me quick, and let me go" 181 + XIX. The Wearing of a Red Rose 192 + XX. Joscelyn's Peril 204 + XXI. Trapped 217 + XXII. "Search my Lady's Wardrobe" 227 + XXIII. In Tarleton's Toils 242 + XXIV. Thwarted 263 + XXV. Good-by, Sweetheart 278 + XXVI. By the Beleaguered City 293 + XXVII. Homecomings 305 + XXVIII. An Unanswered Question 320 + XXIX. The End of the Thread 331 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + FACING PAGE + + Frontispiece. "She swept him a courtesy + full of open defiance and ridicule." + + "Thus they passed, with small parley, the + picket-posts." 48 + + "Richard was dragged along with the British + until their position was regained." 81 + + "... The Prisoners lined up and answered + to their names." 149 + + "For a long minute he stood there, trembling, + horror-stricken." 164 + + "'My God, Joscelyn, you will not give me + up like that!'" 226 + + "'I have seen no human being save our party + of three.'" 262 + + "'My Heart's prisoner for time and eternity.'" 331 + + + + +JOSCELYN CHESHIRE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +CUPID AND MARS. + + "Thy head is as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat." + --SHAKESPEARE. + + +He threw the door wide open and, with one foot advanced and his weight +on the other hip, stood at pose with uplifted arm and sword; as gallant +a figure as ever melted a maiden's heart or stormed a foeman's citadel. +There was great suggestion of power in the straight limbs, a marvellous +promise of strength in the upward sweep of the arm, which, for a moment, +held the inmates of the room in silence of admiration. Then an avalanche +of exclamations broke loose. + +"Richard, Richard!" + +"Master Clevering!" + +"A health to the young Continental!" + +"Oh, the new uniform, how bravely it doth become him!" + +"The buff and blue forever!" + +"What an air the coat gives him." + +"And the breeches have never a wrinkle in them. I have ever said, my +son, that you were not over fair of feature, but that the Lord made it +up to you in the shape o' your legs." The last speaker was his mother, +who, passing behind him, ran her fingers caressingly along the seams of +his military outfit. + +The young man lowered his sword and answered with a boyish laugh: "And +truly did the Lord owe me a debt in that He gave me not your beauty, +mother." + +"He balanced His account," was the complacent answer, "for you are a fit +figure to please even a king." + +"Nay, I care not to please the king--but the assembled queens!" He +doffed his hat, and bowed with courtly grace to the group of young women +in the centre of the room. + +Full of laughter and chaffing they crowded about him--his sister Betty, +her friend Patience Ruffin, Mistress Dorothy Graham, who had come in to +learn a new knitting stitch of Betty, and pretty Janet Cameron, who had +followed Dorothy to hear the gossip which must necessarily flow freely +where so many women were assembled. Immediately they surrounded the +young soldier, and there was much laughter and talking as they relieved +him of his sword and gun. + +"Only a private in the ranks, and yet here am I attended like a +commander-in-chief," he said, laughing. "Methinks no hero of olden +romance had ever such charming squirage. Are you going to give me your +gloves and fasten your colours on my helmet, that I may go forth to +battle as did the knights of yore?" + +"Yes; kill me a Redcoat for this," and Janet tossed him her glove, while +Dorothy tied a strand of the bright wool from her knitting ball upon his +sleeve. "An you win not a battle for each of us, you are no knight of +ours." + +But the fifth girl of the group, after one glance at him upon his +entrance, had turned abruptly to the window and stood gazing into the +street, tapping the air to "King George, Our Royal Ruler" upon the +panes. No part of her face was visible, but her attitude was spirited, +and the poise of her head bespoke defiance. Richard Clevering's eyes +travelled every few minutes to that straight, lithe figure, and anon he +called out banteringly:-- + +"Hey, you, there at the window, are King George and his army passing by +that you have no eyes for other folk?" + +"I would that they were," was the short answer, and the fingers went on +with their strumming. + +"Come, Joscelyn, leave off sulking and see how brave Richard's uniform +doth make him," said Betty, coaxingly, eager that her brother's unspoken +wish should be gratified. + +"And truly doth he need somewhat to make him brave, seeing he is in arms +against his king," Joscelyn retorted, but turned not her head. + +"In arms against the king? Aye, truly am I; and yours be not the only +Royalist back I shall see 'twixt this and the end of the campaign, +Mistress Joscelyn Cheshire." + +"Then, forsooth, will they be in luck--not having you to look at." + +But the others had caught his meaning, and her retort was half lost in +the shout of laughter that greeted him. + +"Aye, I warrant me when the fighting comes you will see the backs of so +many Redcoats that you can e'en cut their pattern in the dark," declared +Dorothy. + +"Then will his head be twisted forever awry with looking so much over +his shoulder behind him." + +"My Lady Royalist's ears are in the room though her eyes be elsewhere," +laughed Janet. + +"And neither is her tongue paralyzed. Turn about, Joscelyn, and let us +see you have also other power of motion." + +"Not quite so much as some folk who turn like a weather-cock in every +gust of a partisan wind." + +Thus the sparring went on until the visitors took their departure, +followed to the gate by Mistress Clevering and her daughter for that one +last word which women so love. Richard bowed them out and closed the +door upon their backs; then, marching straight to the window, he placed +himself by Joscelyn, who immediately turned her face in the opposite +direction. He spoke to her, but only a shrug of the shoulders answered +him. + +"You _shall_ look at me," he cried, with sudden determination; and, +seizing her by the shoulders, he twisted her about until she faced him; +but even then he did not accomplish his purpose, for she covered her +face with her hands, declaring vehemently she would rather see him in +his shroud than in the uniform of a traitor. + +"Traitor, forsooth! You know not whereof you speak. In what button or +seam see you aught that is traitorous?" He dragged her hands from her +face, and held them in his strong grip; but still he was foiled, for her +eyes were tightly closed. "An you open not your eyes immediately, I will +kiss them soundly upon either lid." + +Which threat had the desired effect, for instantly the lashes parted and +a pair of sea-blue eyes looked angrily into his. + +"So--I have brought you to terms. Well, and what think you of my +uniform?" + +"Methinks," and her voice was not pleasant to hear, "that 'tis most +fitting apparel for one who refuses allegiance to his king and--uses his +greater strength against a woman." + +He flung her hands away with what, for him, was near to roughness. "By +the eternal stars, Joscelyn, your tongue has a double edge!" + +"A woman has need of a sharp tongue since Providence gave her but +indifferent fists." + +"In sooth, it is the truth with you," he cried, his good-humour restored +as he again caught one of her slender hands and held it up for +inspection. "Nature wasted not much material here; methinks it would +scarce fill a fly with apprehension." + +But she wrung it out of his grasp, and, with an exclamation of +annoyance, turned once more to the window. His expression changed, and +he stood some moments regarding her in silence. At last he said:-- + +"Joscelyn, 'tis now more than two years since you came to live +neighbours with us, and for the last half of that time you and I have +done little else than quarrel. But on my part this disagreement has not +gone below the surface; rather has it been a covering for a tenderer +feeling. I have heard it said that a woman knows instinctively when a +man loves her. Have you spelled out my heart under this show of +dispute?" + +She shrugged her shoulders mockingly. "I am but an indifferent speller, +Master Clevering." + +"Right well do I know that, having seen some of your letters to Betty," +he answered with ready acquiescence. Whereat she flashed upon him a +glance of indignant protest; but he went on calmly, as though he noted +not the look: "But you are a fair reader, and mayhap I used a wrong +term. Have you not read my heart all these months?" + +"It is not given even unto the wise to read so absolute a blank." + +It was his time to wince, but the minutes were flying, the women might +return from the gate at any moment, and this would be his last chance +for a quiet word with her. "Let us have done with this child's play, +Joscelyn. To-morrow I march with my company; 'twill be months, perhaps +years, before we meet again. I love you! Will you not give me some +gentle word, some sweet promise, to fill with hope the time that is to +come?" + +"What manner of promise can you wish?" she asked, her back still toward +him. + +"A promise which shall mean our betrothal." + +"Betrothal?--and we always quarrelling?" + +"Quarrels cease where love doth rule," he answered softly. + +"But I have no love for you." + +"You might have if you would cease dwelling so much on the king's +affairs and think somewhat of me. I would give you love unqualified if +so you would but lean ever so little my way." + +"And think you, Master Clevering, that I would turn traitor for your +love? Nay, sir; I am a loyal subject to King George, and can enter into +no compact with his enemies." + +"Then will I be forced to conquer you along with the other adherents of +the tyrant, for have you I will," he cried impetuously. "An you yield +not to persuasion, you shall yield to force. From this day I hold you as +a part of the English enemy who needs must be subdued; and I do hereby +proclaim war against your prejudice for your heart." + +"And I do accept the challenge, foreseeing your failure in both +causes." She swept him a courtesy full of open defiance and ridicule, +and again turned her back upon him as Betty entered the room. + +But Master Clevering was neither dismayed nor discouraged by the turn +his wooing had taken. He had never thought to win her lightly, and his +combative disposition recognized in the prospect before him the elements +of a struggle, so that he was filled with the keen joy of a warrior at +the onset of the fray. The possibility of final defeat did not occur to +him. + +Bidding Betty an affectionate good-by, Joscelyn quitted the house, +declining his proffered escort, nor did he speak with her again for a +space of many hours; for when the company, bidden that night to a +farewell feast with him, assembled about the board, the chair set for +her was vacant. Betty and Janet glanced meaningly at each other, for +they had seen her at dusk in company with Eustace and Mary Singleton, +and the Singletons were among the most pronounced Tories in the county. +But at the other end of the table Richard only laughed as he thrust his +knife into the fowl before him and felt for the joint. + +"Tell her, Aunt Cheshire, that our loss does not equal hers, since she +gets none of this bird, which is browned to the taste of Epicurus +himself." + +His tone was careless, and in truth he was not surprised at her +defection, for he, too, had seen the Singletons at her gate; and later +on, as he stood at his own door, had seen her, through her lighted +parlour window opposite, take off, for the entertainment of her guests, +his own theatrical entrance in his uniform that afternoon. She was an +excellent mimic, and her sense of humour enabled her to give a ludicrous +side to the scene, which drew forth peals of laughter from her auditors. +The vanity, the swagger, the monumental pose, were so exactly reproduced +that Richard felt a quick tingle of irritation flush his veins. And that +picture was still in his mind as he sat at table among his guests. + +It is questionable whether it would have been an added nettlement or a +relief had he known that she had been aware of his presence across the +way, seeing him distinctly against the hall light behind him, and that +the scene enacted was more for him than for her visitors. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE MARCH OF THE CONTINENTALS. + + "Thou art gone from my gaze like a beautiful dream." + --LINLEY. + + +The Cheshires and Cleverings were not akin, although the young people +gave titles of kinship to the older folk. Mistress Cheshire had been +twice married, her first husband being brother to James Clevering. After +her second widowhood she had moved from New Berne to Hillsboro'-town, to +be near her brother-in-law, for neither she nor her last husband had any +nearer male relative this side of the sea. There had been no quarrel +with the Cleverings concerning her second marriage, so that she found in +Hillsboro' a ready welcome. The inland town promised more peace than the +bustling seaport whence she had moved. There news of king and colony +came in with every vessel that cast anchor at the wharves, and, as a +result, the community was in a constant state of ferment. All this was +very repugnant to Mistress Cheshire, who was a timid woman with no very +decided views upon public questions. Her one ruling desire was for +peace, no matter whence the source; she had lived quite happily under +the king's sceptre; but if Washington could establish a safe and quiet +government, she would have no quarrel either with him or fate. + +But Joscelyn was different. Her father had been an ardent advocate of +kingly rule, and she had imbibed all of his enthusiasm for England and +English sovereignty. He had died just before the battle of Lexington set +the western continent athrob with a new national life. Consequently, the +removal from New Berne had been much against Joscelyn's inclination, for +she desired to be in the front and press of the excitement. But seeing +how her mother's heart was set on it, she finally withdrew her +opposition. Still she carried to her new home the bitter Toryism with +which her father had so deeply ingrained her nature. In another +atmosphere this feeling might have spent itself in idle fancies and vain +regrets; but in daily, almost hourly, contact with the Cleverings, whose +patriotism was ever at high tide, she was kept constantly on the +defensive, and in a spirit of resistance that knew no compromise. The +elder Cleverings and Betty looked upon her outbreaks good-humouredly, +treating them as the whims of a spoiled child. But not so Richard. His +whole soul was in the revolt of the colonies; every nerve in him was +attuned to war and strife, and he was vehemently intolerant of any +adverse opinion, so that between him and Joscelyn the subject came to be +as flint and steel. He did not scruple to tell her that she was foolish, +obstinate, logically blind, and that her opinions were not of the +smallest consequence; and yet the stanch loyalty with which she +defended her cause, and the ready defiance with which she met his every +attack won his admiration. Very speedily he separated her personality +from her views, and loved the one while he despised the other. Nothing +but fear of her ridicule had hitherto held him silent upon the subject +of his love. + +While the merry-making went on at the Cleverings' that last night of his +stay at home, Joscelyn sat playing cards with the Singletons, whom she +persuaded to remain to tea, making her loneliness her plea. + +"It passes my understanding," said Eustace, as he slowly shuffled the +cards, "how these insurgents can hope to win. Even their so-called +congress has had to move twice before the advance of his Majesty's +troops. A nation that has two seats of government in two years seems +rather shifty on its base." + +"It must have been a brave sight to see General Howe march into +Philadelphia," said Joscelyn. "Methinks I can almost hear the drums beat +and see the flags flying in the wind. Would I had been there to cry +'long live the king' with the faithful of the land." + +But Mary shuddered. "I am content to be no nearer than I am to the +battle scenes. The mustering of the Continental company to-day has +satisfied my eyes with martial shows." + +"Call you that a martial show?" her brother laughed derisively. "Why, +that was but a shabby make-believe with only half of the men properly +uniformed and equipped. Martial show, indeed! Rather was it a gathering +of scarecrows. I prophesy that in six months the 'indomitable army of +the young Republic,' as the leaders style the undisciplined rabble that +follows them, will be again quietly ploughing their fields or looking +after other private affairs." + +"And while you are prophesying you are playing your cards most +foolishly, and I am defeating you." + +"True, you have me fairly with that ace. Let us try it again--'Deprissa +resurgit,' as the Continentals say on their worthless paper money." + +"Joscelyn," said Mary suddenly, "did I tell you that Aunt Ann said in +her letter that Cousin Ellen wore a yellow silk to the ball given to +welcome General Howe to Philadelphia?" + +"I do believe you left out that important item," laughed Joscelyn. + +"Why, how came you to be so remiss, I pray you, sister? The flight of +congress from the Quaker city, and its seizure by his Majesty's troops, +are but insignificant matters compared to the fact that our cousin wore +yellow silk to the general's ball," teased her brother. Whereupon Mary +went pouting across the room and sat at the window, calling out to the +players at the table the names of those who went in and out of the house +of festivity opposite. + +"Yonder are Mistress Strudwick and Doris Henderson--dear me! I wonder +what it feels like to be so stout as Mistress Strudwick? Billy Bryce and +his mother are just behind them. I see Janet and Betty through the +window. Betty has on that pink brocade with the white lace." + +"Then I warrant some of those recruits will go to the war already +wounded, for in that gown Mistress Betty is sweet enough to break any +man's heart." + +"Eustace, I do believe you are halfway in love with Betty." + +"Why put it only halfway, my dear? The whole is ever better than a +part." + +"What think you, Joscelyn, is he in earnest? And how does Betty like +him?" + +But Joscelyn laughingly quoted the biblical text about being "unevenly +yoked together with unbelievers," reminding Mary that Betty was a Whig, +and Eustace a Loyalist, and this was a bar that even Cupid must not pull +down. Whereupon Eustace laughed aloud; and Mary was satisfied. + +Early the next morning Betty ran over to make her protest against +Joscelyn's absence of the night before. "Richard seemed not to care, but +mother and I were much chagrined that you did not come." + +"I certainly meant no offence to you and Aunt Clevering," answered +Joscelyn, "but Richard and I have a way of forgetting our company +manners which is most unpleasant to spectators." + +"Yes; mother read Richard a most proper lecture this morning about the +way he quarrels with you, and he is coming over later to make his peace; +he says he thinks that perhaps mother is right, and that he will feel +better to carry in his heart no grudge against any one when he goes into +battle. And you must be very kind to him, Joscelyn, for it is a great +concession on his part to apologize thus. Supposing if--if anything +happened to him, and you had sent him away in anger!" + +Joscelyn drew the young girl to her. "So you have appointed yourself +keeper-in-chief of my conscience? Well, well; I will hold a most strict +watch over my tongue during the next few hours, so that it may give you +no offence. Still, I am not easily conscience-stricken, and neither, I +think, is Master Clevering." + +"The Singletons passed the evening with you, did they not?" asked Betty, +who had glanced across at her friend's window the night before, and had +seen them playing cards together. + +"Yes; and Eustace said some very pretty things about you and your pink +frock. What a pity you are of different political beliefs, for--Why, +Betty, what a beautiful colour has come into your cheeks." + +"Stuff, Joscelyn! But--what said Master Singleton?" And when the speech +was repeated, the girl's sweet face was redder than ever. + +For a few moments Joscelyn looked at her in consternation. Betty cared +for Eustace! It seemed the very acme of irony. Then tenderly she stroked +the brown hair, wondering silently at the game of cross-purposes love is +always playing. Uncle and Aunt Clevering, with their violent views, +would follow Betty to her grave rather than to her bridal with Eustace, +for, besides the party differences, the older folk of the two families +had long been separated by a bitter quarrel over a title-deed. +Joscelyn's own friendship for Mary and Eustace had been the cause of +some sharp words between her and her uncle; a thousand times more would +he resent Betty's defection. "But they shall not break her heart!" she +said to herself, with a sudden tightening of her arms about the clinging +girl. + +An hour later Richard knocked at the door and was admitted by Mistress +Cheshire, for Joscelyn had gone to her own room at the sound of his step +outside. + +"No, I will not come down. I have promised Betty not to quarrel with +him, and the only way to keep my word is not to see him," she said to +her mother over the banister. "Tell him I hope he will soon come back +whole of body, but as gloriously defeated as all rebels deserve to be." + +In vain her mother urged, and in vain Richard called from the foot of +the stair; she neither answered nor appeared in sight. + +"Tell her, Aunt Cheshire, that I never thought to find her hiding in her +covert; a soldier who believes in his cause hesitates not to meet his +adversary in open field; it is the doubtful in courage or confidence who +run to cover." And he went down the step with his head up angrily and +his sword clanging behind him. + +In the upper hall Joscelyn held her hands tightly over her mouth to +force back the stinging retort. Then, with a derisive smile, she went +downstairs and sat in the hall window, in plain view of the street and +the house across the way. + +That afternoon his company marched afield. The town was full of noise +and excitement, and the mingled sound of sobbing and of forced laughter, +as the line was formed in the market-place and moved with martial step +down the long, unpaved street, the rolling drums and clear-toned bugles +stirring the blood to a frenzy of enthusiasm. The sidewalks were lined +with spectators, the patriots shouting, the luke-warm looking on +silently. Every house along the route through the town was hung with +wind-swung wreaths of evergreen or streamers of the bonny buff and +blue--every one until they reached the Cheshire dwelling. There the +shutters were close drawn as though some grief brooded within, and upon +the outside of the closed door hung a picture of King George framed in +countless loops of scarlet ribbon that flamed out like a sun-blown poppy +by contrast with the soberer tints of the Continentals. Here was a +challenge that none might misunderstand. The sight was as the red rag in +the toreador's hand to the bull in the arena; and, like an infuriated +animal, the crowd surged and swayed and rent the air with an angry roar. +The marching line came suddenly to a full stop without a word of +command, and the roar was interspersed with hisses. Then there was a +rush forward, and twenty hands tore at the pictured face and flaunting +ribbons, and brought them out to be trampled under foot in the dust of +the road, while a voice cried out of the crowd:-- + +"Down with the Royalists! Fire!" + +And there was a rattle and a flash of steel down the martial line as +muskets went to shoulders. But Richard Clevering, pale with fear, sprang +to the steps between the deadly muzzles and the door and lifted a hand +to either upright, while his voice rang like a trumpet down the line:-- + +"Stay! There are no men here. This is but a girl's mad prank. Men, men, +turn not your guns against two lonely women; save your weapons for +rightful game! Shoulder arms! Forward! March!" + +There was a moment's hesitation, a muttering down the ranks; then the +guns were shouldered and the column fell once more into step with the +drums, while the crowd shouted its approval. But above the last echoes +of that shout a woman's jeering laugh rang out upon the air; and, +lifting eyes, the crowd beheld Joscelyn Cheshire, clad in a scarlet +satin bodice, lean out of her opened casement and knot a bunch of that +same bright-hued ribbon upon the shutter. With the throng in such +volcanic temper it was a perilous thing to do; and yet so insidious was +her daring, so great her beauty, that not so much as a stone was cast at +this new signal of loyalty, and not a voice was lifted in anger. + +And this was the last vision that Richard had of her--the vivid, glowing +picture he carried in his heart through the long campaigns, whether it +was as he rushed through the smoke-swirls of battle or bivouacked under +the cold, white stars. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ONWARD TO VALLEY FORGE. + + "He is the freeman whom the truth makes free, + And all are slaves besides." + --COWPER. + + +The colony of North Carolina had long been ready for rebellion against +kingly authority. Governor Tryon had sown the seeds of discontent by his +unpopular measures, and the taxes levied upon the people that he might +build his "palace" at New Berne. This discontent had culminated in the +insurrection of the Regulators and the battle of Alamance, where was +made the first armed stand against England. But Tryon was victorious, +and the captured leaders of the insurrection were hanged on Regulators' +hill in Hillsboro'-town. But from that field of Alamance, the defeated +people carried to their homes the same persistent, haunting dream of +liberty which was to rise incarnate when the tocsin of the Revolution +blew through the land. + +That tocsin waked many an echo among the hills that surrounded the town +upon the Eno. At the first call to arms, the older men had gone to the +field, some marching away to the north, others serving under the +partisan leaders throughout their own section. Now the younger +ones--those who had been but boys when the cannon at Lexington made the +pulse of the people first to quicken and throb--were going out to bear +their share in the fray. + +For the past year the company of which Richard Clevering was a member +had done service in the militia at home, keeping the Tories in a +semblance of subjection, and now and then going to Sumter's aid when he +made one of those electrical sallies which were like lightning flashes +amid the general storm. In this hard school Richard had learned his +first lessons in soldiering; but graver and sterner military work was +now ahead, for the company was marching northward to aid in recruiting +Washington's regular army, reduced and discouraged by the terrible +winter at Valley Forge. + +When they started, the willows that fringed the Eno, that fierce little +river that winds about Hillsboro', had already lost their winter +grayness, and, with the rising of the sap, had taken on that wonderful +golden brown which is the aureole of the coming springtime. The +bluebirds had not yet come back to the fence corners, but the earth was +soggy with the thaw, and from under the whirls of last year's dead +leaves, crocuses were holding up green signals to the sun. But as the +troop held their steady way to the north the spring signs disappeared, +and hoar frost and bleak winds told that winter's reign was not yet +over. + +It was a long tramp up through the Virginia woods and along the salt +marshes of the coast, and down and up the desolate streams hunting a +ford. But youth and enthusiasm lighten many a burden, and to Richard the +greatest hardship was lack of news from Joscelyn. The thought of her +tugged at his heart, and if his step ever lagged in the line, it was +because the memory of her face drew him back with that sickening sense +of longing that youth finds so hard to resist. At every chance he sent +her a missive. + +"Not that she will care, but just to show her _I_ do," he said, trying +to convince himself there was no bitterness in the thought. + +Peter Ruffin, marching beside him, often looked at the knit brows and +compressed lips and smiled, guessing something of the cause; he said to +himself that it was safer to leave a wife behind than a sweetheart, +since one was sure to find the wife waiting his return, while a +sweetheart might be gone with a fresher fancy. But little Billy Bryce, +who could never have kept up with the line had it not been for Richard's +aid now and then, could not fathom the meaning of that dark look in his +benefactor's face, and so was silent and sorry. + +The March winds tore at them, and the storms pelted them as they tramped +the rugged roads or slept in their thin tents, and the bullets that they +had intended for the enemy, often went to provide game for their daily +sustenance. The Tories of the districts through which they passed +sometimes rallied to oppose them, so that they had to fight their way +through ambuscades, or, when the enemy greatly outnumbered them, slip +away under cover of night or by circuitous paths through the forest and +swamps. + +And so, at last, toward the end of March, they reached their goal--the +encampment at Valley Forge, and shuddered at the desolation they +witnessed. As the little band marched down the streets of the military +village, gaunt men who had survived the horrors of the winter came out +to meet them with huzzas, and the drums beat a long welcome. Their +coming was as a thrill that runs through a half-numb body, a sign of +revivification and awakened hope. But under it all was a sense of +unspeakable sadness that filled the hearts of the newcomers with a +strange wistfulness of pity and admiration. + +The succeeding weeks were given up literally to camp work, to ceaseless +mustering and drilling under the vigilant eye of Baron Steuben, until +the newcomers lost the air of recruits and bore themselves with the +semblance of veterans. + +"We had hoped to fight under Morgan," Richard wrote his mother, "but, +doubtless for excellent reasons, we are to be assigned to General +Wayne's command, which just now sorely needs strengthening. Save that +Morgan is from our part of the country, the change matters not to me, +since both men are fearless leaders. What I want is a fray, and with +either of these men I am like to get my fill." + +Here there was a long blot on the page, as though the back of his quill +had been drawn along a line. In truth it had, for he had started to send +a message to Joscelyn, and then with a sudden accession of determination +had erased it, lest she come to think he had never anything in mind save +herself. But he fondled the letter as he folded it, knowing that her +fingers would doubtless hold each page and her eyes travel along each +line, for his mother would share her news of him with her neighbours +over the way. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE COMPANY ON THE VERANDA. + + "Heaven first taught letters for some wretch's aid, + Some banished lover or some captive maid." + --POPE. + + +For several weeks after the departure of the soldiers an expectant hush +settled over Hillsboro'-town--the reaction of the mustering and drilling +that had gone before. So few men were left in the town that Janet +Cameron one day dressed herself in the garb of a nun, and, with the +feigned humility of folded hands and downcast eyes, went calling upon +her companions "of the convent town." A ripple of merriment followed in +her wake, for she made a most quaint figure. But the Reverend Hugh +McAden, meeting her upon the corner, so reprimanded her for her levity +that she ran home in tears and hid her gray frock and hood in the +garret. Joscelyn sobered her own face and made the girl's peace with the +reverend gentleman with such explanations as at last seemed to him +reasonable. But Janet went on no more masquerading tours. + +With both the work and the gayety of the town interrupted, there was +nothing of moment to engage attention but the news that came once in a +while from the camps and battle-fields. The interest in this was shared +by every one, so that all the tidings, whether by message or letter, +were looked upon as public property. News that came by word of mouth was +cried out from the church steps or the court-house door, for no good +citizen wished to keep his knowledge to himself. Thus it fell out when +it became known that a missive had come from Richard to Joscelyn, that a +score or more of women gathered about her door to learn the contents. +She came out to them upon the veranda, her saucy beauty enhanced by the +scarlet bodice, her eyes full of laughter. + +"Read you Master Clevering's letter?--As you will, Mistress Strudwick; +you may perchance find more of interest in it than I," she answered with +that sweet courtesy she showed ever to her elders. And so having +enthroned Mistress Strudwick upon the wicker bench of the porch, while +the others disposed themselves upon the steps and the grass of the +terrace which sloped directly to the street, she unfolded her letter and +cleared her throat pompously as is the manner of public speakers. + +"I pray you have patience with me, good ladies," she said, "if so I read +but slowly. Master Clevering ever had trouble with his spelling; and as +for the writing, 'tis as though a fly had half drowned itself in the +inkhorn and then crawled upon the page." + +Then did she proceed to read them the letter from its greeting to its +close, pausing now and then to laboriously spell out a word. There were +accounts of the life at Valley Forge, of the drilling and the picket +duty and the ceaseless watching of the enemy. Then there was an exultant +description of the victory at far-off Stillwater, as it was given to him +by a fellow-soldier who had been a participant. + + "Said I not the Continentals would win? Would I had been there to + see! Five times was one cannon captured and recaptured. How + glorious the fighting was; and think of the surrender! Well, well, + it consoles me somewhat to think of that coming last surrender of + that archest of all the Royalists. I shall bear a part in that, for + it is to me the capitulation will be made--" + +"Why, dear me, is Master Clevering to be made commander-in-chief of the +American forces, that his Majesty's troops should yield arms to him?" +Joscelyn broke off to ask with assumed innocence. "I heard naught of his +rapid promotion." + +"Come, come, Joscelyn, leave off sneering at Richard and read us the +rest." + +She laughed as she turned the page. + + "Say to Mistress Strudwick that the fame of her gallant brother, + Major William Shepperd, hath reached even this remote quarter, and + his old friends glory in his prowess. Little Jimmy Nash has lost + his wits and wants another pair-- + +("A pair of wits! What can that mean? Oh, I ask your pardon, Mistress +Nash; it is 'mits,' not 'wits.' Master Clevering hath so queer a +handwriting.) + + "--and wants another pair; let his mother know, that she may knit + them and send them by the first chance." + +There were other messages and news items which the girl read, and then +came the signature. + +"There follows here a postscript which perchance some of you may help me +to unravel," she added; and then, with the air of a town-crier +announcing his errand, she proceeded:-- + + "To the girl of my heart say this, that I forget not I am fighting + for her, and that I look upon every Redcoat my gun can bring down + as one more obstacle removed from betwixt us. I think of her + always." + +She paused and puckered her brow in a perplexed frown. "Now who, I pray +you, is the girl of his heart? Cannot some of you help me to guess?" + +"Methinks 'twould be an easy task for you," laughed Mistress Strudwick. + +"_Me?_" repeated Joscelyn, still with that air of perplexed innocence. +"Nay, he was ever so full of jokes and quarrels that it never came to me +he had a heart." + +"Mayhap it is Dorothy Graham he means," said a voice in the crowd. + +"More like 'tis Patience Ruffin." + +"Or little Janet Cameron--he set much store by her." + +"Nay," said a teasing voice, "Janet is going to be a nun; such messages +to her would not be proper." Whereat there was a general laugh. + +"Whoever she is, 'tis a pity she should miss her love message through +her lover's obscurity and our ignorance," said Joscelyn. "What think +you, Mistress Strudwick, were it not a good plan to post this page upon +the banister here that all who pass may read? In this wise we may find +the maid." + +With a pin from her bodice, and using her high-heeled slipper--which she +drew off for the purpose--as a hammer, she tacked the paper to the +banister. But it had not fluttered twice in the wind ere Betty had +snatched it down. + +"Shame on you, Joscelyn, for so exposing my brother's letter!" + +"Oh, I meant not to anger you, Betty," returned the girl, sweetly, as +she took the letter again and thrust it into her bodice. "Since you like +not this plan, we will have the town-crier search out the mysterious +damsel and bring her here to read for herself. Let us see how the cry +would run: 'Wanted, wanted, the girl of Richard Clevering's heart to +read his greeting on Mistress Cheshire's porch!'" + +She stooped to buckle her shoe, her foot on the round of Mistress +Strudwick's chair, and so they saw not the laughter in her eyes. She +knew well that Betty would not fail to write Richard of the scene, and +she already fancied his anger; she could have laughed aloud. "Methinks +I have paid you back a score, Master Impertinence," she said to herself, +and then fell to talking to Dorothy Graham until the company dispersed. +That night Betty, running in on a message from her mother, found +Joscelyn using the fragments of the ill-fated letter to curl the long +hair of Gyp, the house-dog, and she went home to add an indignant +postscript to the missive to her brother, over which she had spent the +afternoon. But even as she wrote she knew he would not heed her advice; +and sure enough, in course of time another letter came to the house on +the terrace:-- + + "The girl of my heart is that teasing Tory, Joscelyn Cheshire, who + conceals her tender nature under such show of scorning. One day her + love shall strike its scarlet colours to the blue and buff of mine; + and her lips, instead of mocking, will be given over to smiles and + kisses, for which purpose nature made them so beautiful. + + "Post this on your veranda for the town to read, an you will, + sweetheart. For my part, I care not if the whole world knows that I + love you." + +But Joscelyn did no such thing. Instead, she thrust the letter out of +sight, and refused to read it even to Betty, who had only half forgiven +her for her former offence against her brother. + +As the days passed, however, Betty was full of concern for the +privations Richard endured, and out of sheer force of habit she carried +her plaint to Joscelyn. + +"Richard drills six hours a day, rain or shine," she said, with an +expostulatory accent on the numeral. + +"Dear me, is he that hard of learning? Methinks even _I_ could master +the art of shouldering a gun and turning out my toes in less time than +that. It seems not so difficult a matter." + +"And even after all this," Betty went on, taking no heed of the other's +laugh, "he may not rest at night, but must needs do picket duty or go on +reconnoitring expeditions. And he hath not tasted meat in two weeks, not +since he hath been in camp." + +"What a shame! A soldier such as Master Clevering should sit among the +fleshpots and sleep all night in a feather bed." + +"I knew you would laugh," Betty said with sudden heat. "You treat +Richard as though he counted for naught; but the truth is, Joscelyn, you +are not half good enough for him." + +And Betty flung out of the house with her chin in the air, while +Joscelyn kissed her hand to her with playful courtesy, but with a +genuine admiration for her spirit. + +But she softened not her heart toward Richard. Because of his impatience +with her opinions, and the personal nature of their disputes and +oppositions, he had come to typify to her the very core and heart of +the insurrection. She knew this was foolish, that he was in truth +but an insignificant part of the general turmoil; and yet he was the +prominent figure that always came before her when the talk turned on the +Revolution, no matter in what company she was. His masterful ways of +wooing and cool assumption of her preference also grated harshly upon +her, and even in his absence her heart was often hot against him. She +listened indifferently to his mother's and Betty's praise of him. + +Her position in the community was rather a peculiar one; for while many +of her companions disliked her tenets, they loved her for her merry ways +and grace of manner, and so they refused to listen to some of the more +rabid members who counselled ostracism. Her mother, too, was a strong +bond between her and the public; for when the patriotic women of the +town met together to sew and knit for the absent soldiers, Mistress +Cheshire often went with them, and no needle was swifter than hers. It +was her neighbours she was helping; the soldiers were a secondary +consideration. She was not going to quarrel with Ann Clevering and +Martha Strudwick because their husbands had fallen out with the king; +that was his Majesty's affair, not hers, and she did not believe in +meddling in other people's quarrels. But Joscelyn shut herself in her +room on these days and read her English history; or else, being deft +with her pencil, made numerous copies of the historical pictures of King +George and his ministers, which were pinned up on the railing of her +balcony as a new testimonial of her loyalty. But no sooner was her back +turned than some passer-by tore them away, sometimes leaving instead a +written threat of retaliation that made her mother's heart cold with a +nameless dread. + +It was in the end of March, some six weeks after the departure of the +troops, that sad news came from the south. Where the Pedee widened +toward its mouth a blow had been struck for liberty, and Uncle Clevering +had fallen in a charge with Sumter. + +There had been a body of Tories to disperse, a wagon-train to capture, +and despatches to intercept; and Sumter's troops, knowing this, rode all +the windy night through moonshine and shadow to surprise the enemy in +the daffodil dawn of that March morning. Swift, silent, resistless, like +spectres of the gray forest, they came upon the astonished Redcoats--and +kept their tryst with Victory! The prisoners, the wagon-train, the +despatches were theirs; but one of them had ridden to his rendezvous +with death. The elder Clevering's horse was led back through all the +long miles to Hillsboro' with the stirrups crossed over the saddle; and +Ann Clevering sat in her house, bereft. Each day Martha Strudwick and +other friends went to her with words of kindly commiseration; but it was +Mistress Cheshire who did most to comfort the afflicted widow, so that +these two were drawn yet closer together with that bond of sympathy that +comes of a mutual loss. And in Betty's or Mistress Clevering's presence +Joscelyn never again talked tauntingly of English prowess, since it was +an English bullet that had wrought such sorrow to her friends. But even +this death, shocking as it was to her, in no way shook her allegiance to +the cause she held to be right. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WINDING THE SKEIN. + + "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." + --BROWNING. + + +It was April, and the days came with a sheen of blue sky between rifts +of rain. + +Quick steps sounded at the Cheshire door, and the brass knocker beat +like an anvil through the house, setting the maid's feet in a run to +answer it. Joscelyn came down from her room with wide eyes of curiosity +to find Eustace Singleton in the parlour, a great nosegay of roses in +his hand. + +"From the knocking you kept up, I thought the whole Continental army +must be at my door! You have brought me the first roses of the year," +she exclaimed; "how kind!" and she stretched out her hand for the +flowers. + +"No--they are not for you--not exactly," he stammered, holding them out +of her reach. + +"Mother will appreciate them, and I shall enjoy them quite the same." + +"No, she will not, for I had her not in mind when I plucked them." + +"Oh!" + +"I was thinking of--of--'n faith, Joscelyn, I was thinking of Mistress +Betty Clevering." + +"Of Betty Clevering! Red roses for Betty Clevering!" + +"They are not all red. See this one; it is near as buff as her own party +colour." + +The girl nodded, smiling at his eagerness. He walked the length of the +room, then stopped before her abruptly. + +"Joscelyn, I leave for the front to-night." + +"I did not know--" + +"Yes; I have but waited orders from Lord Cornwallis. This morning a +messenger brought them, and I am to report at once. His lordship has +been most kind because of my father's friendship when they were boys, +and I am appointed aide upon his staff." + +She held out her hand impulsively. "'Tis what we hoped for you." + +"But," he went on hurriedly, "I cannot go without first speaking with +Mistress Betty. Methinks I cannot fight against her people without first +asking her pardon. Oh, of course, that sounds foolish; but will you help +me, Joscelyn? It would be useless for me to go to her house; the door +would be shut in my face." + +"And you want me--" + +"I want you to ask her here now, and then go away upstairs like the dear +girl you are, and give me a chance." + +"Aunt Clevering would never forgive me." + +"She need not know; think up some excuse for sending for Betty." + +"And Betty herself might be angry." + +"Not with you. She may turn me away. I have small hope, for she has +always been so shy, and public questions and private quarrels have kept +our families so far apart. You know how seldom we meet; but speak with +her I must, for who knows whether I shall ever come back? My departure +to-night must, of course, be in secret, for were my intentions known, I +should be apprehended and held, mayhap hanged for treason. This is my +one chance to see Betty; you are going to send for her, Joscelyn?" + +She hesitated: she hated deception, and she loved her Aunt Clevering. +Then there came to her the memory of Betty's face when she had teased +her about Eustace, and her own resolution to be the girl's friend where +so much heartache and opposition awaited her. This was her opportunity; +if she refused it, she would be abetting the general harshness the girl +was likely to encounter. She left the room without a word, and presently +Eustace saw through the window her little maid dart across the street +and into the opposite gate. + +"Thank you," he said jubilantly, taking her hand when she reentered the +room. + +"Wait and see if she comes. She is here but seldom these days; partly +because she is still angry with me about Richard, and partly because of +the sorrow that came to her a month ago. She may not accept my +invitation." + +But even as she spoke, a clear voice cried in the hall: "Joscelyn, +Joscelyn, are you upstairs?" + +"Nay, I am here," and she met the girl at the door and drew her into the +parlour. + +Eustace came forward smiling. "Now, Mistress Betty, I call this a lucky +chance to have dropped in here when you were coming to sit with +Joscelyn. Fortune does sometimes favour even so humble a subject as I. +Let me move this chair for you." + +Betty's cheeks had reddened faintly, and she glanced quickly from him to +Joscelyn, but found in neither face any confirmation of a suspicion that +stirred in her mind. Joscelyn was turning over a great pile of coloured +worsteds. + +"You promised to help me sort the colours for my new cross-stitch--you +have such a fine eye for contrasts. But since Eustace is here, methinks +we had best put it off; men are so impatient over such matters," she +said. + +"Nay, nay," he protested; "you slander me along with the rest of my +fellow-men. Mistress Betty here shall prove it, for I will hold those +tangled skeins for her, and she will find that I am patience itself." + +"Very well, we will put you to the test. What think you, Betty, will +this green do for the flower stems?--You like that shade better?--Hold +out your hands, Eustace. Now, Betty, wind that while I find a blue for +the flowers." + +Never was anything brought about more naturally and deftly. Almost +before she was aware, Betty found herself seated in front of Eustace, +who was making great show of resignation. + +"How does a man sometimes fall from the high estate of his manhood and +dignity and become no better than a wooden frame whereon to hang a +length of yarn," he said, laughing; then coloured with pleasure as Betty +bent toward the table and put her face close to the roses lying there. + +"Ah, how sweet! I have only a few buds, as yet. Master Singleton brought +them to you, Joscelyn?" + +"On the contrary, he said expressly they were not for me. There is no +blue in this lot of wools, I must have left it upstairs. 'Tis a shame I +have to mount those steps again. I hope you will have that skein wound +by the time I find the blue one." At the door she paused and looked back +archly at Eustace; then, blowing a kiss to Betty's unconscious back, she +went away, shutting the door softly behind her. + +"God bless you, Betty dear; I hope I am acting for your happiness," she +said to herself on the stairs. + +Betty added to her soft ball in unruffled silence for a minute. Then, +glancing up, she met Eustace's gaze, and her hand faltered in its +winding. + +"Do you know for whom I brought the roses?" he asked, bending toward +her. + +"Stay, Master Singleton, you are dropping the skein--and you promised to +be so patient." + +"True, true; I have it all in a mess. Wind your ball up closer that we +may pass it through this loop." + +And so they set themselves, with here a turn and there a backward twist, +to that old task of unravelling the snarled skein. Now and then their +fingers touched, and both hands trembled and both faces reddened; +Eustace's from the exquisite pleasure of the contact, for never before +had they been so alone, so near together, and out of pure joy he would +have prolonged the happiness. But the shadows were already lengthening +backward to the east, and with nightfall he must be away. And so when +Betty's little hand was again near to his he seized it in both of his. + +"Betty--sweetheart--I love you!" + +The thread was snapped apart, and the ball fell to the floor, but he +held her hands fast. + +"Nay, you must listen to me, for this night I go away to bear my share +in the war, perchance to give my life for the cause I hold to be right. +But before I go I must tell you what is in my heart--tell you that I +love you as a man loves the woman to whom he gives his name, with whom +he leaves his honour. And not only must I tell you that, but I must hear +you say that, believing as I do, you do not blame me for going to the +war. You do not blame me, do you?" + +Her hands lay still in his, but her head was bent so low he could not +see into her eyes. + +"This war means everything to me, for the enemies of the king against +whom I shall have to fight are my neighbours and acquaintances, and, +worse still, the near and dear relatives of my love. Under such +circumstances you do not think I would fight save from principle?" + +"No." + +"And you do not condemn the step I am taking, even though it sets me +against your dear ones? I cannot see things as they do." + +She lifted her head and looked at him squarely for a moment. "Every man +should follow the dictates of his conscience." + +"I knew your heart would recognize the justice of my case. And when it +is all over, and I come back, you will not let this stand between +us--you will be my wife?" + +But she drew her hand away, shaking her head with downcast eyes, and his +pleading was futile. "To promise you would be to go against my mother, +and it were undutiful in me to add to her present distress; now that my +father is dead and my brother gone to the war, my mother has only me to +comfort her." + +"Then at least let me carry away the glad assurance that you care for +me; that will suffice, for, if you love me, you will wait for me." + +"You--you will find me waiting," she whispered; and then her lips +trembled under the kiss that he put upon them. + +But there was a sound at the door, a warning rattle of the knob, and out +of consideration for her he let her go. + +"Aunt Clevering is calling you, Betty," Joscelyn said, but she did not +enter. "She'll be there directly, Aunt Clevering," she called from the +front door. And presently, when Betty passed her with Eustace's colours +flaming in her cheeks and his roses on her breast, she knew that Redcoat +and not Continental had won this battle in her parlour. + +"She would not promise me," Eustace said, wringing her hand; "but I am +so happy, for there are some things that are better than a spoken +promise." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE FETE AT PHILADELPHIA. + + "Drink to her that each loves best; + And if you nurse a flame + That's told but to her mutual breast, + We will not ask her name." + --CAMPBELL. + + +The sixth day of May dawned clear at Valley Forge. In the crowded huts +and tents was an unusual stir, a brushing and repairing of ragged +uniforms, and a burnishing of bayonets and sword-hilts. Then the bugles +sounded their stirring call, and the morning sun looked down upon the +army drawn up in two lines upon the drill plateau. Richard, gazing down +the line in front of him, and knowing that the one in which he stood was +but its ragged prototype, felt his heart swell with admiration and a +sickening pity; for everywhere were the marks of privation and +starvation. Only the faces, transfigured by the radiance of a new hope, +told of the unconquered wills that lay dormant under the scars of +suffering. + +Thus they heard the news for which they had been mustered into +line--France had acknowledged the independence of the colonies, and +would send them substantial martial aid. Franklin had won, and the +_fleur-de-lys_ was to float beside the star-studded banner of the young +republic fighting for her life. + +When the proclamation was read, a salute of thirteen guns boomed out, +each the symbolic voice of a State pledging allegiance to the new +alliance. Down the lines went the rattle of musketry, and there rolled +up a shout that filled the blue hollow of the sky with its hoarse echo. + +"Long live the king of France!" + +"Long live the new Republic!" + +"Hip--hip--huzza!" + +It was as if the prisoned joy of months had broken into song. Scars and +tatters and hunger, pains and aching wounds were forgotten, and only the +radiance of peace and freedom yet to come shone in the dazzled upturned +eyes. + +"Long live the lilies of France!" + +When it was all done Richard sat down to write by the light of a pine +knot one of those letters that Joscelyn hated. + + "I am much grieved at the news of you in Betty's last letter. She + says you daily draw upon yourself the disapproval of the townsfolk + by your public rejoicing over news of any British success. This is + not wise in you, for the people are in no temper to be mocked; and + I feel my hands grow cold at the thought that some danger may come + near you, and I too far away to stand between you and it! Go often + to see my mother, both because she loves you and because the + friendship of so good a patriot will be a safeguard in the + community. Betty hath writ me so queer a page about trying to love + my enemies, and her hope that I will look carefully at every man + toward whom my gun is pointed so that I shoot not a neighbour, that + I am at a loss to understand her meaning--unless, indeed, she hath + been tainted by your Toryism. What think you hath come to the + little minx?" + +She would not answer the epistle, of course--she never did; but it was +such a relief to put his feelings into words. That she would be angry at +some of his words he knew, but it made him laugh to think of the +disdainful lips and flashing eyes. + +He must have laughed aloud, for a man stretched upon the ground suddenly +asked him what the joke was. + +"Oh, just a passing thought," Richard answered. "A man has to think +funny things to keep alive in this state of inactivity into which we are +called." + +"You would like a little excitement?" + +"Indeed I should. 'Tis now six weeks since I came into camp, and only +that one secret trip with you down the river has broken the monotony of +drilling and mounting guard." + +The man, a Virginian named Dunn, one of the most daring and capable +scouts of the army, smoked a moment in silence. + +"How would you like to witness the festivities in honour of General Howe +before he leaves Philadelphia?" + +Richard's eyes lit up. "Take me with you, Dunn!" he cried, with great +eagerness. + +"H-u-s-h!" said Dunn. "Nothing is arranged yet; but there will be much +to learn of the enemy's intended movements, and when would there fall so +fine a chance as these days of festivity when wine and tongues will both +run free? If I can so fix it, you shall go with me; you suit me better +than Price, for you are quicker to catch a cue. You have got just one +fault for this kind of business--you are always so d--n sure of yourself +and your own powers; a little humility would improve you." + +Richard laughed and wrung his hand. "You can knock me down for a +conceited coxcomb, only take me with you." + +For a few days the French alliance was the all-absorbing theme of talk; +and La Fayette's laughing prophecy that France's recognition of a +republic would one day come home to her seemed, to these aroused sons of +Liberty, like an augury that the countries of the Old World would one +day follow in the paths their swords were blazing out--the paths that +lead over thrones and crowns to self-government. But Richard soon had +other things whereof to think. Dunn was planning his expedition into the +lines of the enemy; but two weeks went by before he came to Richard's +tent and beckoned him aside. + +"To-night at eight, by the pine tree down the road. I have spoken to +your captain, so there will be no hubbub about your absence. Bring no +arms but your pistols." + +Under the young May moon Richard kept his tryst with the veteran scout, +as eager as a lover to meet his mistress. + +"Sit down," said Dunn. "I shall tell you my mission, for I do not work +by halves. Sometimes an assistant has to act on his own responsibility, +and he spoils sport if he does not know the plan. First, we are to find +out when the British are to move, what is their destination, and by what +road they will go. If an attack is to be made before-hand on our camp, +we must bring back the plans. If there is a chance for our men to strike +a blow, we must know it." + +"And how are we to learn these things?" + +"By keeping our ears and eyes open and our wits sharpened. It will +take cool heads and steady nerves. We are to gain entrance into the +city as ordinary labourers. In this bundle are the necessary clothes. +Circumstances must govern us after we are there. Now to get ready." + +It took but a few minutes to transform the soldiers into workmen, so far +as dress makes a transformation. Leaving their uniforms in the hollow +of a tree, where Dunn's man was to search for them, they mounted their +horses and set off by an unused road toward the distant city. The direct +route would have given them about twenty miles of travel, but the +numerous diversions they were obliged to make added a fourth of that +distance to their journey, so there was a gray streak of dawn in the +sky ahead of them when they drew rein at a lonely cabin on the edge +of a wood, beyond which were the cleared fields of a farm that skirted +the city. On the door of this hut Dunn struck three sharp taps, then +one, then two. After the signal was repeated the door was cautiously +opened by a man within, who, upon being assured of the identity of the +newcomers, bade them enter; and Richard found himself in an humble room +whose rafters were hung with drying herbs that gave out a pungent odour. + +In a few words Dunn explained to the man, whom he called George, +something of their purpose. + +"Well, I was expecting you. My vegetable cart starts in two hours; one +of you can go with me, the other must straggle on behind, for two would +be more than is safe with one cart. My daily pass allows me an +assistant." + +[Illustration: "THUS THEY PASSED, WITH SMALL PARLEY, THE PICKET POSTS."] + +When their horses had been hidden in an out-house, Richard and Dunn +threw themselves down and slept heavily until the carter aroused them. +The smell of breakfast, along with his eagerness for the coming +adventure, made Richard quick to answer the summons, and in a short time +the three were on their way. It had been arranged that Richard, who knew +nothing of the city, should go on with the carter, and that Dunn should +take his chances and follow. But in the public road, where other carts +were beginning to appear, they overtook a black-eyed lass carrying a +huge basket of eggs. It took but a few glances, flashed coquettishly +across the road, to bring Richard to her side. There were some gallant +speeches, a protest that ended in a pouting laugh, and then the two went +down the road like old friends, merry with the carelessness of youth, +she swinging her hands idly, he carrying her basket. Thus they passed, +with small parley, the picket posts, for the guards knew the girl who +came and went daily with her market wares. + +Once they were in the city, Richard bade adieu to his companion, and, +after some little search, joined Dunn behind the market-house, the +latter having slipped in by an obscure alley. They soon knew from the +talk on the streets and the general air of bustle that the fete they had +come to witness was to begin on the water, so they repaired to the pier +above the city and waited for a chance to slip into the crowd. The +opportunity came through a boatman, who wanted two men to help row his +barge down to the appointed landing. They readily bargained to go, and +took their places in the boat, which was soon filled with a gay crowd of +ladies and their escorts, all in gala humour and attire. Richard, +sitting in front of Dunn, forgot all about his oar as he watched the +flutter of the brilliant throng, the glowing faces, the flashing smiles. +Never before had he seen so many magnificent costumes or such an array +of masculine and feminine beauty. But there was one face that seemed +strangely familiar--a face with dark eyes and tropical colouring of +olive and carmine. Where had he seen it? Nowhere, he felt sure, for a +girl like that was not to be forgotten. And yet his eyes went back to +her as to a friend. Who, then, was it she resembled? He was searching +his memory for a cue when suddenly something struck him sharply on the +arm, and Dunn said in a whisper:-- + +"Mind your oar and quit gaping that way; the whole company will be +noticing it directly, and coming over to examine you, and that'll be a +pretty kettle of fish!" + +Richard picked up his oar quickly, ashamed of his defection; but for the +life of him he could not keep his eyes from the dark, vivacious face +across the boat, until her escort, a splendidly dressed officer of +Howe's staff, laughed and said to her:-- + +"I told you all hearts would be at your feet this day, and see, even the +boatman over there is worshipping from afar." + +The half whisper reached Richard, and as the girl turned toward him +their eyes met. She laughed, and then threw up her head with a +disdainful toss, turning back to her companion. But the gesture had +cleared the doubt in Richard's mind. It was Mary Singleton over again, +and the vivid likeness was to her. This must be her Philadelphia cousin, +of whom he had often heard. She would know much of the plans of the +British, for her father was an intimate of Howe, and she herself said +to be betrothed to his chief of staff. This much Richard remembered +from Joscelyn's talk, and glad he was to recall the idle chatter +which at the time had bored him, since it kept him from more personal +conversation. It was of Joscelyn and himself that he had always wanted +to talk; but she had declared lightly that neither subject suited her, +for her own charms were too patent to need comment, and his were too few +to bear exposure, and had gone on to tell him of the Singletons, whom +she knew through Mary's letters. A plan that seemed like the gauzy web +of a fairy tale began to weave itself in Richard's mind as he bent to +his oar. + +The river was full of boats of every description, from barges like the +one he was in, to giddy cockleshells that seemed a dare to Providence +as they careened and dipped and darted in and out among the larger +craft, like monster dragonflies rather than conveyances for human beings. +And each one, great and small, was packed from prow to stern with a +laughing, singing crowd in festal array. As the gay fleet approached +the appointed landing-place, it passed in line between two men-of-war +strung with flags and sun-kissed garlands; and then, amid the music of +hautboys, the braying of trumpets, and the booming of guns, the company +landed and proceeded to the grounds laid out for the tourney which was +to be the chief event of the day. It was a dazzling picture upon which +the afternoon sun looked down. In the centre stretched the tourney ring, +around which beautiful women, gorgeously gowned, sat on mimic thrones to +watch their gallants--tricked out like knights of old--contend for the +honours. The multi-hued throng of spectators filled out the picture +which had for its foreground the river with its decorated craft, and for +its background the deep green of the forest, with the city's clustered +roofs to one side. Thousands of flags and garlands and streamers of +ribbon tossed in the wind, while the music, like the invisible incense +of pleasure, drifted like the sunshine everywhere. + +And the man for whom this was all planned sat on his dais, the +embodiment of soldierly bearing, of courtesy and gratification; for this +splendid demonstration told unequivocally the appreciation in which the +army held him, notwithstanding the implied disapprobation of the home +government in so promptly accepting his resignation, tendered, no doubt, +in an hour of chagrin and hurt pride at the strictures passed upon him +at home. + +As soon as the barge was tied to its pier, Richard and Dunn mingled with +the throng, bent on seeing the sport. Richard longed to become a part of +the merry-making, but knew he must be content to be a spectator. He +looked about carefully for the black-eyed girl, and finally located her +through a remark overheard in the crowd:-- + +"Mistress Singleton occupies the place of honour on the right of the +master of ceremonies." + +And when he had pushed his way farther on, he saw her. So he had been +right; this was Ellen Singleton, the _fiancee_ of Grant, one of the most +accomplished officers under Howe. All the afternoon he lingered in her +vicinity, but unable to advance in any way the mad scheme he had in +mind. When darkness fell, the company repaired to the hall where the +tourney victor crowned his queen, and the dancers took their places to +spend the time until supper was announced. More than four hundred guests +sat down to that table, over which twelve hundred waxen candles shed +their radiance. As Richard leaned into one of the low windows, absorbed +in the scene, he noticed that Grant was whispering earnestly to his fair +companion, and that she looked serious, even alarmed. Before he had +finished wondering at the cause, some one touched him on the arm, and he +turned to find Dunn at his elbow. + +"Hist!" said the latter; "something is afoot. Couriers have come, and +General Howe spoke with them apart in the anteroom, and you should have +seen his face light up as he listened. It is, of course, something about +our troops. I heard La Fayette's name, but can get no particulars. Grant +is leaving the table; keep him in sight if possible while I try the +couriers." + +Mistress Singleton also had risen, and was leaving the room on Grant's +arm. Quitting the window hastily, Richard was at the door when they came +out of the hall. + +"I must speak with you," Grant said earnestly, in a low tone, to the +girl on his arm. The lawn was practically deserted, and the mimic +thrones erected for the tourney stood unoccupied in the blended light +of the moon and flambeaux. "The general's pavilion yonder is our best +place. There are some ladies and gentlemen on the far side, but at the +corner, there where the shadow falls, no one is sitting. Come." + +He led her across the open space, and Richard saw them take their places +in the dim light, the girl's white dress marking the spot even from +where he stood. He followed slowly, not knowing what next to do, for he +was too new in the _role_ of scout to willingly play at eavesdropping, +so he stood irresolutely near the pavilion watching the quiet couple at +one side and the bevy of laughing revellers at the other. Evidently +Mistress Singleton was much agitated, for her hand rose in frequent +gesture, and her voice was a trifle shrill. Presently two young men from +the other party came down the pavilion steps, and one of them dropped +his long military cloak in the shadow at the end of the step, saying he +would find it again after the dance. Then they passed on. Behind them +two soldiers came at quickstep, and Richard heard these words:-- + +"Grant's division has the orders. Quick work of the whole crew of +rebels." + +In the light of the flambeaux at the banquet-hall door Richard saw Dunn, +and hastened to join him. Putting together what they had gathered, they +made out that La Fayette had left Valley Forge with a body of troops, +intending to do whatever mischief he might, but that his movement had +been discovered, and Howe was planning to capture his whole force, and +Grant was to be detailed for the work. But what his course would be, +when he would set out, and what force would be with him were things yet +to learn. However, these were the very things La Fayette would want to +know. Dunn was waiting for Howe to leave the banquet-hall, so Richard +went back to his vigil near the pavilion. As he approached, Grant was +coming down the steps. + +"I shall not be gone twenty minutes. You are quite safe, for Mistress +Hamlin is just behind you, and I'll send one of the officers to sit with +you. Wait for me, for it may be our last meeting." + +Evidently the girl consented, for she kept her place while he sprang +down the steps and strode toward the lighted hall. + +The wild plan Richard had cherished all day was to speak with this girl +on equal terms. It might cost him his life, but a very dare-devil spirit +of adventure took possession of him. Now was the hour of which he had +dimly dreamed. He did not stop to think, but stooping into the shadow, +he snatched up the long cloak lying there and wrapped it about him, +turning up the collar jauntily. Then with his heart thumping against his +ribs, but with a smile on his face, he came to the side of the steps +nearest the girl and went boldly up into the pavilion. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A DARE-DEVIL DEED. + + "Thou fool, to thrust thy head into a noose." + --ANON. + + +The girl was leaning back with her hand over her eyes, evidently in deep +thought. + +"Ah, Captain," she said, as Richard paused, mistaking him for one of +Mistress Hamlin's party from across the pavilion, "you have come to bear +me company in Major Grant's absence?" + +"With your permission," answered Richard, gallantly, "and if Providence +is kind to me, General Howe will find much to say to him." + +"That is not likely, since the plans are all laid." + +"Yes; they were not long in the forming," he ventured cautiously. "The +division marches to-night." + +"So soon? I thought it was at ten in the morning?" + +"No doubt, then, I was misinformed; I was not at the meeting with the +couriers. If Major Grant said ten in the morning, then it must be so," +he hastily corrected himself; but he had learned one needed item. + +"I hoped it had been hurried up that it might the sooner be over." + +"This French marquis is inclined to give us trouble and himself airs." + +"Indeed, yes; but General Howe will have his revenge when, after this +fight to-morrow, he sends the young upstart back to England in chains." + +"That will he. It would be a glorious sight to see our gallant general +capture him with his own hands." + +"Oh, Major Grant will attend to that," she replied loftily. "General +Howe will do his share when he receives the prisoners at Chestnut Hill." + +So Chestnut Hill road was to be their route. Richard mentally recorded +it, while he said with incisive compliment, "Major Grant has the place +of honour." + +The pleasure in her voice when she answered told that the arrow had hit +its mark. "Major Grant could have circumvented the rebels with half the +five thousand men assigned to him." + +"He takes so many? 'Tis a large force for so skilful an officer, unless, +indeed, the enemy should be very strong." + +"Oh, I think they reach not half that number." + +With the hour of starting, the route and the force to be sent, Richard +now knew all he had hoped to learn. Grant might return any moment, so +that his peril was imminent; and yet the audacity of the adventure gave +it such spice that he lingered unwilling, as he was unable to frame an +excuse for withdrawing, filling in the pause with comments on the day's +festivities. + +"Your company does not go with the attacking party?" she said presently, +as though it were something they both knew positively. + +"No," he replied, catching the cue, but wondering which company was +supposedly his, and for whom had she taken him. + +"Major Grant told me you would go as the general's escort to receive and +guard the prisoners." + +"That sounds very tame after his own share in the work. Major Grant was +surely born under a lucky star, to be so favoured as he is by Mars and +the little blind god of love." There was a tone in his voice that she +could not fail to understand, and she laughed coyly in answer. He ought +to go, he knew; but still he lingered, and presently, urged on by the +spirit of recklessness that possessed him, he said: "You have relatives +in the south, Mistress Singleton?" + +"Yes. How did you happen to know?" She turned toward him so abruptly +that he was for a moment disconcerted. + +"Why, it is not a government secret," he said, laughing. + +"But you are not from the south; you are English. How should you know, +and why should you think of it just at this time?" + +She had scarcely looked at him before, being too busy watching the door +of the banquet-hall for Grant's return; but she had now lifted her eyes +directly to his face. Discovery seemed imminent. Cursing himself +inwardly, he hastily put up his hand to smother a pretended cough, +thankful that the light was behind him. But her scrutiny continued. + +"Captain Barry--" she said, with that in her voice that told him she was +not quite satisfied. + +"At your service--would that I could say forever," he said, putting all +the tenderness possible in his voice, and clicking his heels in a low +salute. Was everything over with him? Fool that he was to have tempted +fate by such an allusion. + +She pushed her chair back as though to rise, but at this moment there +was a stir about the lighted doorway across the sward, and Grant came +out. If he reached the pavilion before Richard found an excuse to retire +his neck would pay the forfeit of his daring. He was thinking hard and +fast. The girl sank back with a sigh of pleasure, her doubt of her +companion momentarily forgotten in the joy of her lover's return. + +"Your superior officer," she laughed softly and proudly. + +"Yes," he replied, with that audacity which, even in danger, could not +be quelled; "my superior in the ways of wooing as well as in the ways of +war, since against him I have no chance to win a smile from your lips. +You will have much to say to him in these last moments--and Mistress +Hamlin is going," he added with a quick throb of gratitude as the party +across the pavilion left their seats. + +"You need not leave us," she said with half-hearted politeness; but +already Grant was at the foot of the steps, and, with an audacious kiss +upon the hand she held out to him, Richard turned, and, with a beating +heart but no seeming haste, fell into the rear of the company across the +pavilion, descending the steps so close behind them as to seem to an +onlooker to be a member of the party. Every moment was precious to him, +and yet he loitered along the lighted sward as if eternity were his. As +he reached the corner of the building he heard Grant call:-- + +"Barry, Barry!" + +But he pretended not to hear, and sauntered on into the shadow. There +his pace quickened. No one stopped him, for his military cloak +completely disguised him, and presently he found himself near the +landing. In an empty boat-house he cast aside his borrowed garment, and +soon found Dunn near the barge at the appointed place of meeting. The +old scout listened to his adventure with amazement not unmixed with +anger. + +"You confounded dare-devil, you might have spoiled the whole plan," he +cried; yet acknowledging inwardly that he knew no one else who would +have dared to thrust his neck so far into a noose. He himself had not +been idle, and piecing together their bits of information, they made +out that La Fayette had crossed the Schuylkill and taken a post of +observation on a range of knobs known as Barren Hill, and that Howe's +plan was to capture him as a brilliant close to a campaign that had +been so much criticised. It became therefore instantly necessary to +warn the marquis of the plot. The details Richard had gotten from the +unsuspecting girl gave them all they needed to round out their plan; the +one thing now was to escape and carry the information to La Fayette. +This Richard found more difficult than he had imagined from their easy +entrance; for they had no friendly carter and market-maid beside them, +and despite the festivity, the pickets were keeping strict watch at the +outposts. Finally, by creeping on their hands for half a mile behind a +hedge, they managed to evade detection; but the sun was already high +over the eastern horizon before they gained the banks of the Schuylkill. +Keeping close to the stream and avoiding the open road, they finally +came upon a row-boat hidden among the reeds in a cove. This, without +ceremony, they appropriated, and were soon making more rapid progress on +their journey. For a long while nothing but the oars was heard; then +suddenly Richard laughed aloud. + +"Suppose that young gallant had come back for his cloak while I was +talking with the girl?" + +"You'd have had to content yourself with the angels--or the +imps--hereafter," growled Dunn. + +But Richard laughed again. "Well, I'm glad he stayed away, for 'tis +pleasanter entertaining beautiful girls. It will be great sport to say +in my home letters that I, a private in the Continental army, was one of +Mistress Singleton's attendants at General Howe's _fete_! Mary will get +it all from Joscelyn and write it back to the lady, and she will then +know who the supposed Barry was. Who is Barry, anyhow?" + +"One of the finest of the young officers that wears the red--a soldier +and a lady-killer, so they tell me." Long afterward Richard recalled the +words. + +Presently Dunn, who had been looking intently ahead, said: "This is the +place; yonder are the two dead oaks by which I always locate Matson's +ford. We will tie up here and cut across country to the hills, trusting +to luck to find the way to La Fayette. Grant's guides, knowing their +road, give him the advantage, for I have never been sent to this part of +the country, so am ignorant of my bearings. It must be near to noon, and +the British column has long ago started." + +"Will they guard this ford, do you think?" + +"Hardly, for it is nearer to the English than to us. La Fayette will +retreat as he came, by the one higher up." + +"Will he fight first?" + +"He may be forced to; otherwise, no. It would be folly to deliberately +engage the superior force sent against him. If we only knew the direct +path!" + +"If we only had some breakfast," sighed Richard. + +They wanted to ask their way at the scattered cottages and of the men at +work in the fields, but they knew not friends from foes. Once they lay +for an hour under a plum thicket, not venturing to move, while two men, +who had met in the road, stopped their horses for a talk. The afternoon +was beginning to wane when they came to a secluded farmhouse where an +old woman gave them something to eat, and, thinking they were Tories, +warned them that a body of Americans was said to be camped three miles +to the southwest. They thanked her, but once out of her sight they +turned joyfully in the forbidden direction, and in less than an hour +were called to halt by two men with bayonets. + +"Take us to your general, and take us quick," said Dunn. + +La Fayette recognized Dunn, instantly, and received his news with much +emotion, for he had hoped to strike a telling blow on some of the +outposts, and maybe cut off a foraging party, whose members would be +valuable prisoners for exchange. Now there was nothing but to turn back. +But even as they were making ready for a retreat over the road by which +they had come, his scouts came flying through the lines with the news +that Grant was close upon them in the rear, having made a circuitous +march in order to get between them and their camp at Valley Forge. La +Fayette set his teeth as he said:-- + +"Then 'tis fight, though that means death to every brave man here." + +But Dunn told of Matson's ford still unguarded, and the commander was +quick to seize the one chance left to save his men, and before midnight +the little band was safely over the river, with their faces toward +Valley Forge. There they were received with cheers by their comrades, +who, having heard some wild rumours brought by two countrymen from +beyond the Schuylkill, had feared the worst for them. + +That night, long after Richard was sleeping the sleep of healthy but +exhausted youth, Dunn sat in the officers' quarters and told how, with +a military rain-coat over his workman's blouse, Richard Clevering had +played the gallant to the beauty of Philadelphia and the _fiancee_ of +Howe's chief of staff. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A MAID'S DREAM AND THE DEVIL'S WOOING. + + "A pleasing land of drowsyhead it was: + Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye; + And of gay castles in the clouds that pass, + Forever flushing round a summer sky." + --THOMPSON. + + +It was June-time in the beautiful hill country along the Eno. Down the +long road that sloped to the bridge from the west two horses took their +leisurely way, while their riders talked or were silent at will. Below +them, in the curve of the river, lay the town in a green summer dream; +the roadside was lined with nodding blossom heads, and the thickets were +a-rustle now and then with the subdued whir of wings, for the song +season of their feathered tenants was done, and sparrow and wren and +bluebird were busy with family cares. + +"Joscelyn, you are not listening to a word I am saying," complained Mary +Singleton, petulantly, after repeating a question a second time and +getting no answer. + +"I beg your pardon, Mary; I believe you are right." + +"Of what were you thinking so intently?" + +"I was not thinking. It is too delicious this afternoon to do anything, +even think. I am just resting my mind." + +"Well, I find you very dull under such a process." + +"'A friend should bear a friend's infirmity,'" quoted Joscelyn. + +"Dulness is not an infirmity; it is a crime." + +"Then methinks the world must be full of criminals." + +"And those who are so intentionally and voluntarily should be punished +like other wrong-doers." + +Joscelyn laughed. "Well, pass sentence upon me, most wise judge, if you +think I was not born that way and that the sin is intentional. Am I to +hang for it, or will you be merciful and make it a prison offence?" + +"Oh, you'll get the hanging soon enough if you go on wearing that red +bodice and stringing pictures of King George on your balcony!" + +"So mother says. And hanging is not a becoming way to die; one has no +opportunity to say that 'prunes, prisms, and preserves' sentence that +leaves the mouth in such a charming pucker. Well, since my lips are to +be awry, I trust they will give me time to put on my new silver-buckled +shoes. It would be a comfort to know that at least my feet looked their +best." + +"Joscelyn! You are perfectly horrid." + +"You mean I would be without the 'prunes and prisms' expression." + +Mary struck her horse and rode forward a few yards, but presently fell +back again beside her companion. + +"What I asked you just now related to Eustace. Do you think--" + +"I said I was not thinking." + +"Well, begin at once. Is there any danger that Eustace will really try +to marry Betty Clevering?" + +"Danger is a wrong word, Mary. If Eustace is ever so fortunate as to win +Betty, he should spend the rest of his life in thanksgiving. She is as +true as steel, and better tempered than either of us." + +"I am not disparaging Betty, and I have often wished our parents were +not at outs, so that she and I might be better friends; we only meet at +your house or places of entertainment. But, Joscelyn, you know--you must +know what we all have hoped for you and Eustace." + +Joscelyn turned her eyes fully and calmly upon her companion. "Yes, I +know. I should have been even duller than you pronounced me just now not +to see through your plan. Diplomacy is not your _forte_." + +"You knew I--we all wanted you to marry--" + +"Eustace? Yes; he and I have often laughed over it to each other. And +now that you have mentioned it, I want to tell you frankly that there is +not the faintest possibility of such a thing. As a friend Eustace is +charming; but as a husband--" + +"Don't! Your mouth looks as if you had bitten a green persimmon." + +"Well, I think with Eustace as a husband life would be all green +persimmons, without any prunes or prisms to break the monotony. It would +be quite as bad on him as on me; you would make us both utterly +miserable." + +"I cannot believe it. I know Eustace looks at Betty with the utmost +admiration, and manages often to meet her; but 'tis much the same way +with every pretty girl,--he must be saying sweet things to each of them. +But in his heart I feel sure he prefers you above all the rest, only +your indifference holds him aloof. Here is a letter I had this morning, +in which he devotes a whole page to happy imaginings about a soldier's +welcome home when the war shall be over. He grows really poetic about +shy eyes and the joy of holding a white hand in his. Whom can he mean +but you?" + +"Betty has shy eyes, and Janet has the whitest hands I know anywhere. As +you said, Eustace has a roving fancy." + +Mary sighed. "I intended to read the letter to you, but here we are at +the bridge, and we will now be meeting so many people." + +"Give it to me; I will read it at home," Joscelyn said, stretching out +her hand with sudden interest. "It would be preposterous to waste all +that sentiment on a mere sister; it takes an outsider to appreciate +touches like that. Oh, it shall be read with all the accessories of a +grand passion--sighs, smiles, blushes, and suchlike incense." She +laughed as she tucked the letter into her belt, but she did not say who +the reader would be, and Mary took much comfort in the thought that she +would appropriate the sentimental parts to herself. Whose eyes were +softer than Joscelyn's, whose hands whiter or sweeter to hold? + +And so, each thinking her own thoughts, they crossed the wooden bridge +that spanned the river, the horses' hoofs making a rhythmic clatter on +the boards. In the street beyond they came upon Mistress Strudwick +carrying an uncovered basket heaped high with hanks of yarn. The road +was a slight ascent, and the corpulent dame was puffing sorely. + +"Why, Mistress Strudwick, you with such a load as that? What does this +mean?" cried Joscelyn. + +"It means that that little darky of mine has run away again, and that +there'll be one less limb on my peach tree to-night when he comes back." + +"Will you not take my horse and ride?" + +"It's been thirty years since I was in a saddle, and I'm not honing to +wear a shroud." + +Joscelyn leaned down, and catching the handle, lifted the basket to the +pommel of her saddle. "I will not see you make yourself ill in this way. +Were there no other servants to spare you this exertion? You are all out +of breath." + +A curious light came into the old lady's eyes as she saw the girl +steady the basket in front of her; but she checked the words that had +sprung to her lips and trudged slowly along, the riders holding back +their horses to keep beside her. + +"What have you two been plotting together this afternoon?" she asked, +looking from one to the other with the pleasure age often finds in +contemplating youth and beauty. + +"Have we the appearance of dark conspirators?" laughed Joscelyn. + +"Nay, you both look sweet and innocent enough; but somehow I'm always +giving that Bible verse a twist and reading it: 'Where two or three +Tories are gathered together, there is the devil in their midst.'" + +"You should not twist your Scripture, Mistress Strudwick." + +"Mayhap not, but sometimes it makes an uncommon good hit." + +"Well, you were wrong to-day. Two Loyalists have been congregated +together; but Cupid, rather than the devil, has been our +co-conspirator." + +"So! It was sweethearts you were discussing? Tell me now, was it your +match or Mary's you were arranging? There is nothing pleases me more +than a wedding." + +"I thought you took no interest in matters concerning King George's +subjects." + +"King George has naught to do with the wooing of our maids; and love is +love, whether it be Redcoat or Continental," replied the old matchmaker. + +Joscelyn laughed. "I verily believe you'd like to know the courtship of +Satan himself, provided he had one." + +"Of course he had, my dear, and a most engaging lover he made, I'll be +bound, seeing he is so apt a beguiler in other things. Oh, yes, +everybody knows that Satan is a married man." + +"Where got he his wife?" + +The old lady threw up her hands with quizzical scouting: "'Tis not set +down in the books, but it would have been just like some soft-hearted +creature to creep after him when he was exiled from heaven. And she is +not the only woman who has followed a man to perdition, either,--more's +the pity!" + +"You are seeing things awry to-day, Mistress Strudwick." + +"Mayhap, mayhap," puffed the old lady. "I haven't much of a prophet's +eye, but I see things of to-day plain enough, and I know that you are a +pair of uncommon pretty girls, and are like to have many a beau on your +string; but when marrying time comes, take an old woman's advice and +choose a man who is hale and hearty, for as sure as you are born, love +flies out of the heart when indigestion enters the stomach." + +"Truly, Mistress Strudwick, you are better than 'Poor Richard's +Almanac,'" laughed Joscelyn. + +"Oh, my dear, I've seen it tried. Courtship is the finest thing in the +world, but after the wedding love is largely a question of good cooking; +and although you two are rank Tories, and so deserve any punishment the +fates might send you, still I'd be glad, because of your comely looks, +to see you escape your deserts. But here we are at my gate. I wonder +what the town will say, Joscelyn, when they hear that you, Tory that you +call yourself, brought a basket of wool for Continental socks from +Amanda Bryce's to my door." + +The girl's face flamed with a sudden heat. Then she said with that +beautiful courtesy that older folks found so charming:-- + +"It was not for the Continentals, but for my good neighbour that I +brought the basket. I am not minded to see her kill herself in so bad a +cause; rather do I want her to live and repent of her mistakes, that she +herself may not be the first to solve that riddle of the devil's +wooing." And kissing their hands jauntily to the old woman, the two +girls rode away into the purple twilight. + +"Bless her bonny face and quick tongue!" the old woman cried, waving her +hand after them. + +That night Mary cried herself to sleep over her shattered hopes, and in +the privacy of a white-curtained room, Joscelyn read aloud the letter to +her whom Eustace had in mind when he thought of the welcome of shy eyes +and clinging white hands. And Betty fell asleep with the letter under +her cheek, and all the soft June night was filled with flitting cadences +and starry dreams. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ON MONMOUTH PLAIN. + + "Wut's words to them whose faith and truth + On war's red techstone rang true metal; + Who ventured life and love and youth + For the great prize o' death in battle?" + --LOWELL. + + +And it was June-time, too, in the far-off New Jersey country across +which an army, glittering with scarlet and steel, took its way. Slowly +it moved; for with it went a wagon-train conveying many of the refugees +from the evacuated city of Philadelphia, people who could not crowd into +the transports that went by sea, but who feared to meet the incoming +Americans and so sought safety in New York. Children and delicately +reared women slept in army tents, or sat in their coaches all day, +listening to the crunching of the wheels in the sand and looking back +through the slowly increasing distance to the horizon, behind which lay +the deserted city where pleasure had held high carnival during the +months just passed. And with them they carried everything that could +be packed into coach or hidden in wagon; and though they went with the +semblance of victory and almost of pleasure-seekers, it was a sad +procession; for who could say when or upon what terms they might ever +see their old homes again? Often Clinton looked back impatiently at the +crawling train, for he had not liked to be so hampered, and yet had been +quite as unwilling to abandon these people to the vengeance they +imagined awaited them. + +Almost before they had lost sight of the spires of the city, Arnold, +with braying bugles, marched his column down the echoing streets, and +set up the standard of the republic where late the British lion had +wooed the wind. + +For nearly a week that long train crept on its way, held back by its own +cumbersome weight and the varying roughness of the route. And ever on +its flank hung the lean but resolute army of the Continentals, waiting +and longing for a chance to strike. All the suffering of Valley Forge +was to be avenged. Every wrong they had sustained was whispering at +their ears and tugging at their memories; every dead comrade seemed +calling out to them for retribution through the sunshine or the midnight +silence. And it should be theirs; the utmost atonement that arms, +nerved with patriotic and personal vengeance, could achieve should be +claimed--if only the hour would come. But still that long train moved +onward, and there came no word to fight. + +Then, from out the blue sky-reaches of that June-time dawned Monmouth +day. + +"We are to fight at last!" + +And every man in that thin, dishevelled line felt his heart throb with +the exultation of action long desired and long delayed. Every man but +one, and he the one on whom rested the responsibility of the attack. + +"Anybody but Lee!" Dunn had said with a groan, when he heard who was to +lead the attacking column. And Richard, having gone with him to report +some scouting work to the council of officers, and recalling Lee's +fierce opposition to any plan for battle, groaned too. + +"His envy of General Washington and his imprisonment among the British +have made him half Tory. He is the senior officer, it is true,--but if +he had only persisted in his first refusal to lead the division and left +it to La Fayette!" + +But in Richard's thoughts there was no time for doubt when, in the +brilliant light of the next morning, he swept with his column over the +brow of the low hill and on down the narrow valley toward the scarlet +line that marked Clinton's post. It was his first real battle; for +compared with this the engagements under Sumter had been but skirmishes, +and the frenzy of the fight was upon him. "For home and Joscelyn!" had +been the war-cry he had set himself, thinking to carry into the hottest +of every fray the memory-presence of the girl whom he loved. But when +the test came she was forgotten, and only the menace ahead, the death he +was rushing to meet, was remembered. Every musket along that steadfast +scarlet line seemed levelled at him alone, and into his heart there +flashed a momentary wish to turn and seek shelter in flight from the +leaping fire of the deadly muzzles. But in the quick onset, the shouts, +the growl of the guns, and the challenging call of the bugles, this fear +was conquered; and in its place a wild, unreasoning delirium seized upon +him, and the one thought of which he was conscious was to kill, kill, +kill! + +To those blue-clad men, burning with the memory of their sufferings +and their wrongs, it seemed as if nothing could stand before them; but +British regulars were trained to meet such an advance, and the red line +was as a wall of adamant. Between the attack and the repulse there +seemed to Richard scarcely breathing-time; for they were repulsed, and, +fighting still, were driven back through that narrow defile, expecting +every moment that Lee would send them succour so that they might again +take up the offensive. But instead of reenforcements, there came that +strange order to retreat. Retreat? Had there not been some mistake? The +officers looked at each other incredulously, suspiciously, half-inclined +to disobey; for the battle was hardly yet begun, and this first check +was not a rout. Then full of rage and doubt they repeated to their +subordinates the orders of the couriers, and the regiment fell back +sullenly, clashing against other regiments who had not struck a blow, +but to whom had also come that mysterious order to fall back. What was +the matter, what was this paralyzing hand that had been laid upon them! +No one could tell; but men retreated looking longingly over their +shoulders at the enemy. Confusion grew almost into panic as those still +further away saw the retiring columns pursued by the Redcoats, and knew +not the cause nor yet what dire disaster had befallen. + +Then suddenly upon the field there came the Achilles of the cause, and +the rout was turned. + +"The general--thank God!" the officers sobbed; and the men cheered as +those who are drowning cheer a saving sail. + +Richard was too far off to hear the fierce protest and rebuke heaped +upon Lee, but in a few minutes an aide galloped up to his regiment and +cried out to Wayne:-- + +"General Washington says you and Ramsey are to hold the enemy in check +here upon this hillside until he can re-form the rear." + +And the blue line swung about and steadied, and met the English face +to face; and Richard Clevering's battle-cry rang full and clear amid +the yells that well-nigh drowned the roar of the musketry. About that +sun-scorched knoll there fell the fiercest part of the fray. The palsy +of hesitation was gone, and desperation had made the men invincible. +Again and again that red wave from the open space before surged against +them, broke and recoiled and gathered and came again like some strong +billow of the ocean that rolls itself against a headland--fierce, blind, +futile. + +Then came the climax of the splendid tragedy. Upon Wayne's right was a +Continental battery from which a great gun sent its deadly challenge to +the foe. Again and again its whirring missives tore great gaps in the +red ranks, until Clinton gave orders to silence it at any cost. + +Careless of danger, unconscious of his impending doom, the gunner loaded +his piece anew, and lifted the rammer to send the charge home. Behind +him stood his wife, who had left the safety of the wagons to bring him +water from a wayside ravine, for the sky was like copper and the dust +blew in suffocating gusts. She saw what he did not, the shifting of the +enemy's gun in the plain below, the turning of its deadly muzzle full +upon the knoll where they stood. But there was no time for so much as a +warning cry; for instantly the flame leaped out, the ground shook with a +strong reverberation, and a groan went up from the Continentals as they +saw the dust fly from the knoll and their own brave gunner throw up his +arms, swing sidewise, and then fall dead. For one awful moment no one +moved; then two men from the line sprang forward to take his place, but +some one was before them--some one with the face of an avenging Nemesis. +There was the flutter of a skirt, a woman's long black hair streamed +backward on the wind, and Moll Pitcher stood in her husband's place +like an aroused lioness of the jungle. Fury gave her the strength of a +Boadicea, and the rammer, still warm from the dead man's grasp, went +home with a single thrust; the flame flashed over the pan, and with a +roar that shook the heavens, the big gun sent back into the red ranks +the death it had witnessed. When the smoke had lifted, the breathless +men saw the woman, one hand still upon the great black gun, stoop down +and kiss the dead husband she had avenged; and all down the Continental +line eyes were wet and throats were cracked and dry with cheering. + +All the rest of that fateful day, with the eyes of her dead love +watching her staringly, Moll Pitcher held her place beside the gun, +solacing her breaking heart with its flash and roar, holding back her +woman's briny tears until the silent vigils of the night, when her +mission was accomplished. + +And in the meantime, in the rear, the voice of a single man, with its +trumpet tones of inspiration, was bringing order out of chaos. Regiments +were re-formed, scattered companies gathered, batteries turned, and +defeat robbed of its surety. Men, who a moment before had been +panic-stricken with the confused marching and counter-marching of the +day, looked into the face of the commander and felt their hearts beat +with an answering calm. Confidence was restored, and the routed corps +were turned into attacking columns. And so when that red wave broke for +the last time against Wayne's and Ramsey's divisions on the hillside, +reenforcements were close at hand. + +But they came too late for some of the brave men who had saved liberty +and honour that day, for the red wave, receding, took as its flotsam all +the men in buff and blue who, in their enthusiasm and temerity, had +advanced too far beyond the ranks. + +And among these prisoners went he whose battle-cry had been, "For home +and Joscelyn!" + +[Illustration: "RICHARD WAS DRAGGED ALONG WITH THE BRITISH UNTIL THEIR +POSITION WAS REGAINED."] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +IN CLINTON'S TENTS. + + "Give me liberty or give me death." + --PATRICK HENRY. + + +Hatless, furious, half-blind from dust and the trickling of the blood +from the wound in the head that had dazed and rendered him powerless +to escape back to his own ranks after meeting the enemy, Richard was +dragged along with the British until their position was regained, and +thence despatched to the rear, where the other prisoners were held under +guard. There he lay on the ground for an hour, listening and longing +feverishly for the sound of Washington's assaulting guns; but the +twilight deepened into starlit dusk, and no rescue came. Then finally he +knew by the preparations about him that no further attack was expected, +but that a retreat was intended. Clinton dared not await the return of +daylight and the fight it would bring; and so in the still hours of the +night, while the Continentals slept the sleep of utter exhaustion after +the marches and counter-marches and combats of that sultry day, he drew +his force away, leaving his dead unburied upon the field, and his sorely +wounded in the deserted camp. To the very last moment, Richard had +listened for an attack, hoping that Washington had waited to plan a +surprise; but over in the direction of the American camp all was silent. +During the last half of that awful night Richard marched with the squad +of prisoners along the road that led to the sea. The wound in his head, +although but slight, made him dizzy with its throbbing, and his heart +called out fiercely for freedom and Joscelyn. He had asked not to be put +into the wagon with the wounded, protesting he was more able to walk +than some others; but in reality he was meditating an escape, and knew +it would be more easily accomplished from the ranks than from a guarded +wagon. Eagerly he watched for a chance. The bonds that at first held the +prisoners together had been removed to expedite the retreat,--there was +no time that night to spare for any kind of lagging,--so that he was +free to go alone if the opportunity came. Always his gaze was ahead, +every shadow across the road held a possibility, every dark hollow was +entered with hope. But the guard, as though divining his intention, +closed in compactly at these points and made egress impossible; and so +he plodded on until, with the returning daylight, they found him reeling +like a drunken man with fatigue and loss of blood, and, putting him into +an ambulance, carried him on toward Sandy Hook. From utter weariness and +hopelessness he fell asleep in the jolting vehicle, and only waked at +the prod of a bayonet to find the sun well past the zenith. + +"Get up with you and let somebody take your place while you foot it a +bit," a rough voice said; and Richard sprang from the vehicle and helped +little Billy Bryce, of his own town, into his place, exclaiming +vehemently against his own selfish slumbering. + +"Nay, nay," said the lad, "I am not wounded, more's the shame to me for +being taken! Besides, I have had a long rest under the wagon here, for +we halted before noon. I begged the guard not to waken you, but I put +your rations aside. Here--you must be near to starvation." + +Richard caught eagerly at the pork and ship biscuit which the lad held +out; it seemed ages since he had tasted food. + +"And you'll be better with your head washed," the guard said, not +unkindly, pointing to a little stream that trickled by the roadside; and +Richard was quick to obey. + +In a little while they were in motion again, this time more leisurely, +and once more thoughts of escape filled Richard with a restless energy. +The country was more broken here; to hide would be easier, and he waited +impatiently for the coming of the dark, determined at all hazards to +make the attempt--another sunset might put him behind prison bars. But +he was doomed to disappointment, for they were not to march all night, +but with the early stars pitched their tents upon a flat stretch of +country that opened to the east. + +Worn out by the long marches and the cloying sand through which they had +toiled, the army soon slept profoundly. Tied together for greater +security, the prisoners lay like so many sardines in their tent, before +which trod a sentinel. At first there was much whispering among them as +to their probable fate, and not a few solemn farewells to home and dear +ones, with now and then a happy reminiscence such as often comes with +the acme of irony to doomed men. One recalled his courting days, another +the swimming pool under the willows; and yet another his baby's laugh. +And set lips relaxed into smiling until suddenly the memory stabbed with +a new pain. + +"I shall never see my mother any more, for I know I shall die in that +dreadful prison; but you'll be good to me, won't you, Richard?" groaned +little Billy Bryce, who lay next to Richard with his right hand tied to +the latter's left. + +And Richard comforted him as best he could, and by and by the lad slept +with the others. + +"I hope they will always let me stay with you," had been his last sleepy +whisper. For among the bigger boys Richard had been his hero and +protector, and no service was ever too great for him to undertake for +his idol. And Richard had petted and yet imposed upon him in the way +peculiar to all boys of a larger growth, when a small one asks nothing +better than to obey. It was really to be with Richard as much as to +share in the war that he had stolen away from his mother and followed +the Hillsboro' men to the field. + +At last the tent was quiet save for the deep breathing of the tired men, +but Richard could not close his eyes; he meant to get away. After the +watch was changed toward midnight was the time he had set as the most +favourable for his plan. All being then found secure, the new guard +would be over-sure--and he, like the rest, was worn out with the trials +of the past two days. Certainly that was the best time; a confident, +tired sentinel ought not to be hard to elude. And he lay still, softly +gnawing the rope that bound him to Billy. As he was at the end of the +line, his right arm was free, and so his fingers aided his teeth to pick +the threads apart. Thus an hour went by, and then the lad beside him +stirred. + +"What are you doing, Richard?" he whispered; then added quickly, as his +arm felt the loosened cord: "Why, you have bitten the rope in two. You +are going to escape? Take me with you, in mercy's name, Richard; do not +leave me to die in the prison yonder! Richard, let me go, too." + +"H--sh!" whispered Richard, sternly, for the boy's excitement was like +to arouse the whole body of prisoners, perchance even alarm the guard +outside. "Be still, Billy! I cannot take you--two could never pass the +guard. I am sorry; I--I--wish you had not waked." + +But the lad, whose arm was now free because of the final severance of +the cord, caught his hand as with a drowning grip: "You must take +me--you must!" + +"I cannot." + +"Oh, I will not go on to rot in that vile prison; I am so young, and my +mother has nobody but me! Don't you know how I have always loved you, +Richard? You never asked me to do anything that I was not ready to try +it. I'd never leave you here if I were going to freedom--never!" + +To take him lessened his chances more than half, and Heaven knew how +slender they were already; but the struggle in Richard's mind lasted +only a moment. Then he leaned over the boy's body and began carefully +and quietly to untie the cord that bound him to the next sleeper, +stopping now and then when the man made any movement. The lad, guessing +his consent by his action, spoke no word, but lifted his head and kissed +him on the cheek; and Richard felt the tears that coursed down the +smooth face. + +"You confounded young idiot!" he whispered, but his voice was very +tender, and presently, when the knot was loosed, he drew the lad close +to him and told his plan. + +"God grant we may both of us get safely away; but if only one of us +succeeds, and that should be I, then will I carry your love to your +mother." + +"And if I escape, I shall do the like for you." + +"Ay, laddie, and more; for you shall say to Joscelyn Cheshire that even +behind prison bars I am her lover; and if death comes, her face, or the +blessed memory of it, will outshine those of the angels of Paradise." + +"You love her so, then?" + +"As a man loves sunshine and warmth and beauty and life." + +"And she loves you?" + +"No, lad, she loves me not." + +And the boy left the silence that followed unbroken, knowing the other +wished it so. + +A while later they heard the call of the watch farther down the beat, +and presently the sound of steps outside and the welcome "All's well!" +of the relieved sentry. Turning upon their backs with the ravelled ends +of the cords hidden close between them, they seemed asleep like their +comrades when the watchman cast the light of his lantern through the +flapping canvas door. + +"Too d--n tired to give any trouble," the out-going sentinel said as he +glanced along the line. "You will have an easy time to-night." Then he +went away, and the two watchers in the tent waited for what seemed an +eternity. Finally Richard lifted the edge of the tent and looked out. +The sentinel leaned against a small tree in front of the tent, his gun +held slack in his fingers. He was very tired, even to drowsiness. + +"Now," Richard whispered, and crawled stealthily from under the rear of +the tent, followed by Billy. Keeping in the shadow of the tents, they +moved on hands and knees across the ground toward a clump of bushes that +promised a hiding-place for reconnoitring. Only twenty yards the stretch +was, but to those two crawling figures it seemed a mile. Every weed that +swayed against its fellow had in it the sound of a rushing wind, and +every twig that broke under hands or knees seemed like the crack of a +rifle. To their overwrought senses each breath the other drew was as the +sough of a tempest, and they scarcely understood how the sentry could +not hear. So slowly they had to move that it took fully twenty minutes +to cover those few yards. Then, while Billy lay still in the shadow, +Richard raised himself stealthily and looked about. They could have +happened upon no worse place for their attempt. It was near the end of a +short beat up and down which two sentinels trod, passing each other near +this end, so that only a few moments intervened when one or the other +did not command the whole beat with his eye and gun. Behind and on +either side stretched the tents of the sleeping army, set thick with +picket posts and guards. On the other side of the narrow road was a rock +large enough to conceal a man, and beyond this was a field of high +grass, to gain which meant freedom. Not a detail of the starlit scene +escaped Richard. To go backward or to the right or left was to fall into +repeated dangers; this was the way since they were here. If only the +sentries passed each other in the middle of the beat, that there might +be more time when this crossing in front of them would be a little +longer unguarded! + +He stood irresolute, trying to think accurately; but a noise behind left +him no time for further hesitation. Something was amiss yonder in the +rear,--perhaps their flight had been discovered. Billy, too, had heard, +and rising, stood close behind; softly he put out his hand and drew the +lad before him. One agile spring across the road, a moment's hiding in +the shadow of the rock yonder, then the tall grass and liberty; but +between the passing of the sentinels was time for only one man to cross +to safety--only one man could hide yonder behind that rock! The little +lad saw it, and his lips twitched. + +"Good-by," he whispered, trying to move back. + +But Richard held him fast. In his hands was not the semblance of a +tremor, but his face was ashen even in the dim light. + +"Remember Joscelyn," he breathed, rather than spoke; then, as the guard +passed, he gave the lad a push. "Go." + +With a stealthy, gliding step Billy was across the road and behind the +rock as Richard dropped to the ground and the guard turned round. +Evidently the man's trained ear had detected some sound, for he paused +and brought his gun to his shoulder. Richard's eyes were on the rock +over the road; if Billy moved now, they were both lost; but all was +still, and the guard once more took up his march. When he was gone a few +paces Richard saw a dark object crawl from the shadow of the rock, and a +moment later the tall grass shook as if a gentle zephyr had smitten it +in just one favoured spot; then all was silent and moveless save the +crickets and the night birds flapping past in the gloom. + +Billy had left the way clear, and when the next sentinel should be at +the right place Richard meant to follow, and so he drew a deep breath +and waited. But fortune was against him, for before the man was quite +opposite to him another guard came out into the road from the camp +behind and accosted him. As they approached, Richard heard in part what +they said:-- + +"--couriers just arrived--enemy moving on the Brunswick road, supposed +intention to out-flank us. All outside pickets are being doubled to +prevent desertion, and I am sent to mount guard here at the end of your +beat. Two Hessians were caught in the act of deserting just now." + +"I heard some kind of commotion." + +"Yes; 'twill go pretty hard with them to-morrow. When we first took them +we thought they were a couple of those prisoners who were trying to +escape, and the air fairly smelt of the brimstone we were ready to give +them. The light came just in time to save them. Those Hessians are a +d--d set of hirelings." + +He stooped to adjust his shoe-latchet, and when the regular guard passed +on to the end of his beat Richard dropped down quickly, but with an +inward groan, for with that man stationed there at the end of the track +escape was impossible. There had been but one chance, just one, and he +had given that away. He would not regret it, but--he should never see +Joscelyn again. It was all he could do to keep back the fierce cry that +gathered in his throat. For a long time he crouched there, hoping in the +face of despair; but the dawn was coming--if he was found thus, his +punishment would be made the greater. There was no use in courting +torture. And so, when a passing cloud obscured the stars, he crawled +back across the clearing, and crept at last under the edge of the tent. + +"Here, Peter," he whispered in the ear of the next man, "Billy has +escaped. I failed; but 'tis no use to tempt the devil to double my +stripes. Wake up and tie this cord about my left arm that it may seem as +if he gnawed it himself until it was loose." + +And in the morning the guard found him asleep with a bit of ravelled +rope about his arm. Search and inquiry failed to reveal anything of +Billy's escape or his whereabouts, and the incident, so far as the +prisoners were concerned, ended in the volley of oaths and threats +delivered to them second-hand by the guards from the officer of the +day. They were not pleasant words to hear; but Richard only drew a deep +breath, for he had feared Billy would linger waiting for him and so be +taken. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +FROM CAMP TO PRISON. + + "My day is closed! the gloom of night is come! + A hopeless darkness settles o'er my fate." + --JOANNA BAILLIE. + + +Many times during the day's march did Richard turn his eyes wistfully +toward the blue hills to the south, and wonder beyond which of them +Billy was speeding to rejoin his command. The thought had in it such an +element of bitterness that finally he thrust it from him lest it wax +into selfish envy. + +Finally they reached their goal, and the vast body of men and animals +halted beside the bay whose waters sparkled under the blue and gold +tones of the summer sky. In the offing lay the English fleet, which by +the happiest chance for Clinton had arrived inside the Hook in time to +convey his exhausted army to New York. + +The quick, salt wind whipping Richard in the face, gave him a sense of +vigour and reserve strength, which was speedily nipped by a chilling +realization of his hopeless captivity. Mechanically he ate and drank +when the guard bade him; for the prison bars were now inevitable, and he +would lie rusting his heart and manhood out while the fight went by +outside. In an agony of despair he cursed the impetuous daring that had +led him so far in advance of his column as to deliver him into the hands +of the enemy. And he cursed both the moonlight that had flooded the road +the first night of their march, and the guard whose lynx eyes seemed +ever upon him; and finally he cursed himself more sorely than aught +else, because he had not followed Billy at all hazards and let a bullet +end the problem forever. + +But life is sweet to youth, and hope finds ever a place in the heart +that is full of an unsatisfied love; and so by the time he had finished +his spare meal he was ready to look at the future with more calmness. +Outside in the free world Joscelyn would wait for him, and prison doors +must sometimes yawn. The soldier who brought him his supper stayed for a +few minutes to talk. He had a frank, friendly face that Richard liked. + +"So we gave your sly general the slip after all, and held to our march +as we at first intended." + +"Did Clinton originally and intentionally propose to make a night march +at almost double-quick over such roads as we have traversed? D--d queer +military tactics." + +The fellow grinned. "Oh, a little change of programme mattered not, so +we lost not a single wagon of our train. See, they are yonder, as safe +as a ship in port." + +"Mayhap; but you saved your skins whole by stealing away from Monmouth +like a thief in the night, and, leaving the foe you pretended to +despise, camped on the battle-ground." + +"Oh, we begrudge not you fellows a camping ground--we are not that +greedy." + +"No; you wanted them, in fact, to have all the ground in the vicinity, +even if you had to be so unselfish as to march all night to leave it to +them." + +"Come, your tongue's too sharp," the fellow said irritably. + +"Sharper than your general's wits, if he took that march out of anything +but necessity. He has saved his baggage train, but, mark you, he has +lost his cause. Our victory at Monmouth will hearten up the doubtful and +send them flocking to our camp." + +The man laughed satirically at the word "victory," and then said:-- + +"Well, at all events, your part of the flocking is done for good. 'Tis +not likely you'll see the outside of a prison for more months than you +are years old--if by any chance your general hangs on that long, which +is not likely." + +Richard shivered at mention of a prison, but shrugged his shoulders with +outward calm. "A man must bear the fortunes of war, if he be a true +soldier. Prison life is harder than fighting, but some must carry the +heavy end of the burden, and 'tis not for me to bemoan if it falls to +me. Know you in which of your pest holes we are like to be confined?" + +The soldier looked into the clear, steady eyes for a moment before +replying: "You're a rum chap to take your medicine without a whine. I +like your sort, and I hope, when this cursed war is done, you'll be +found alive; but it isn't likely, for methinks you are to go to the old +Sugar House in New York. 'Tis as full as an ant-hill now, but they'll +shove the poor devils a bit closer together and squeeze you in. You'll +have plenty of time, but not much room, to meditate on your evil doings +against King George. Still, I hope you'll live through it." + +He picked up the empty can out of which the prisoner had been drinking, +and moved on. Richard, who had been sitting upright during the +conversation, sank back upon the ground and pulled his cap over +his eyes. The old Sugar House! Too well he knew of the misery and +degradation in store for those who crossed its threshold. No escapes +were ever effected, and the hope of exchange, unless one were an +officer, was too slim to dwell upon; Washington's captures went for +higher game than privates and raw recruits. But two things could open +these relentless gates to him--death or the end of the struggle; and +the latter seemed far enough away. + +And Joscelyn! would she care that he suffered and died by inches? Would +she think of him regretfully, tenderly, when all was done? It was hard +to love a girl of whose very sympathy one was not sure; and yet he knew +he had rather have her mockery than another woman's caresses. + +For an hour he lay upon the ground, his heart convulsed with grief, but +his body so rigidly quiet that his companions thought he slept. They +could not tell that under his cap his eyes were staring wide, seeing, +not the cap above, but a girl's face framed in soft meshes of hair and +lit by eyes as gray-blue as the sea when the tides are quiescent and the +winds are fast asleep. By and by the intense heat of the evening set the +wound in his head to throbbing, and rousing up, he begged the corporal +of the guard for a little water and a bandage. The man--the same with +whom he had talked before--brought these to him after a little delay, +and found for him in his own kit a bit of healing salve, which his +English mother had given him at parting. + +"She said 'twould cure bad blood, and methinks yours is bad enough to +put it to the test," he said, laughing, and yet with a certain rough +kindliness. + +"Well, since it hath not killed you, methinks I am safe," Richard +laughed back gratefully, while one of his comrades dressed the wound, +which gave promise of speedy healing. + +"What is your name?" he asked of the corporal. + +"James Colborn, of the King's Artillery." + +"Well, 'tis a pity you are in such bad employ, for you have an uncommon +good heart and a face that matches it. When General Washington hath +licked the boots off you fellows, come down south and pay me a visit. My +mother'll be so grateful for every kind word you have spoken to me, that +she'll feed you on good cookery until you are as fat as a Michaelmas +goose." + +"I'll come," the other laughed, "but I'll wear my boots; it will be you +fellows who will go barefooted from a licking." + +"Don't wager your birthright on that; you'd lose even the mess of +pottage." + +Under the relief the dressing of his wound afforded, Richard fell +asleep, and his dreams must have been comforting, for on his face was +a smile of happiness, and the words he murmured made the corporal of +the guard laugh to himself as he trod to and fro before the open tent. + +"Have you a favourite dog named Joscelyn?" he asked teasingly, when he +roused Richard for supper. + +"No." + +"A horse, then?" + +Richard looked at him questioningly, half-inclined to be angry. + +"You have been talking in your sleep." + +"Joscelyn is not a dog nor a horse; she is my sweetheart." + +"Mine's named Margie." + +There was a moment of silence during which the two young fellows felt +almost akin with friendly sympathy. They longed to shake hands and tell +each other their love tales. + +"Margie's eyes are black," said Colborn softly. + +"Joscelyn has sea-blue eyes." + +"I like black ones better." + +"I'd love Joscelyn's eyes, were they as vari-coloured as Joseph's coat." + +"Well said." The speaker thrust his hand into his shirt and drew out a +metal case which contained a picture of a buxom English girl. "It took a +whole month's pay to have that made, but I wasn't coming to America +without bringing a likeness of her to look at. When I am promoted to a +captaincy I shall have it set in gold and brilliants. She is counting +the months until I go back to her," he continued with a burst of +confidence, while his honest face flamed with a boyish blush. "For every +week I am away, she drops a pebble into a china jar I gave her, that I +may count the kisses she shall owe me when we meet. Never you doubt but +I shall cheat in the count, though I have to carry back a pocketful of +American pebbles to help me out!" Then, by way of prelude to that coming +happiness, he kissed the picture with eager frankness before returning +it to the case, saying there were already twelve pebbles in the jar. + +Many times during the few days when the army lay encamped upon the sandy +reaches of the Hook did Richard have occasion to be grateful to the +young corporal for little acts of kindness, and in return he told him +something of his own life, so that a curious friendship was formed +between the two; and when the embarkation finally came, Richard was +glad to find that the same guard and officers would have the prisoners +in charge until the dreaded doors of the jail should close upon them. + +As they marched clankily down the streets of New York, he believed that +now he knew how condemned men felt as they approached the gallows, only +the gallows seemed better than those frowning walls yonder, at whose +narrow windows the miserable inmates stood in relays that each might +draw a few good breaths during the long and suffocating day. The old +Sugar House! He set his teeth hard when at last they stood before its +doors, and the first squad of prisoners passed out of sight within its +gloomy portals. He was telling the sunshine and the clouds good-by +before his turn to enter should come, when, to his surprise, the doors +swung to, and the squad in which he marched was wheeled down another +street. After a few minutes he caught Colborn's eye, and read therein +tidings of some new disaster. Whither were they carrying him and his +unfortunate companions! No faintest hint of their destination came to +him, until, the city being crossed, they halted again, this time beside +the water's edge, far to the east. As some delay was evident, the +corporal bade the prisoners sit down upon the shore; and while his men +formed in the rear to watch, he himself passed slowly up and down the +water's edge, stopping at last beside Richard, who sat at the end of +the line of captives as much to himself as possible, for his heart was +heavy with a new forboding. + +"In ten minutes," said the corporal, speaking quickly and in an +undertone, "I shall have parted with you, perhaps forever. I know you +for a brave man and a generous one, and I am sorry for your fate. The +plan has been changed. The Sugar House would not hold all of you; so, +for lack of other accommodations, this squad of prisoners is ordered +to--" + +"Where?" + +"--to the prison-ships lying across the bay." + +Richard staggered up. "The hells, the floating hells!" + +"Yes, that is what they are sometimes called." + +"My God!" For a moment the fortitude that had sustained him during the +last ten days gave way, and he sank down again, covering his face with +his hands in a dry-eyed anguish. + +"I wish from my soul that I might have helped you, but this is all I can +do," the corporal said. "Pick them up as a gift from a brother in arms." +He surreptitiously dropped some coins upon the sand, and Richard, more +because of the friendliness of the gift than because he thought of their +value, ran his fingers through the sand and picked them up, shoving them +into a torn place in the lining of his boot. + +"You have been good to me--" he began slowly, and with the look of a man +who is talking unconsciously; but with an impatient shrug the other had +moved away. When he had walked the length of the line and stood looking +over the water a minute, he came again to Richard's side, apparently +with no special object in view. His voice was very low as he said:-- + +"True soldiers respect each other, no matter what the colour of their +uniforms. I guessed--but I want to know for certain--did you let the +little lad escape the other night rather than go by yourself and leave +him?" + +Richard nodded. Colborn took off his hat. Those who watched him from the +sand and from the picket line thought he but bared his head to the cool +sea breeze, but in truth it was to a brave man's self-sacrifice. A +Scripture verse was running in his head: "Greater love hath no man than +this, that he give his life for his friend." But he did not speak it, +for a boat grating on the sand behind made him turn. + +"The ship's warden to receive you," he said, with a quick-drawn breath. +"God help you!" Then aloud: "Attention!" + +The prisoners arose and lined up as the boat's crew came ashore. The +warden conferred a few minutes with the corporal, went over the list of +prisoners, counted them carefully, eying each one sternly as he did so; +then turned again to the corporal, who, after another short conference, +stepped out before the line of prisoners. + +"Attention! My care of you ends here. The warden of the prison-ships +will henceforth have you in charge." At a signal his men fell back, and +the crew from the ship's long-boat took their places; the two officers +saluted, and the corporal stepped aside. + +"Attention! Forward! March!" the warden shouted, pointing with his sword +to the boat; and the handful of dazed and miserable captives, like so +many automatons, caught step and sullenly moved to the water. As +Richard, who brought up the rear, passed Colborn, the latter +whispered:-- + +"Your Joscelyn shall know," and Richard's eyes spoke his thanks. + +Then the boat drew away from shore, carrying its freight of helpless +despair to the plague-infected hulk rocking in the tide, the plaything +of the winds, the sport of every leaping wave that cast its crystal +fringes to the sun. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A MESSAGE OUT OF THE NORTH. + + "I love thee, and I feel + That in the fountain of my heart a seal + Is set, to keep its waters pure and bright + For thee." + --SHELLEY. + + +"It's all very well for our husbands and sons to be away fighting for +their country--I'd horsewhip one of mine who sneaked at home; but for +all that, this manless state of the town is a terrible test to the +tidiness and the tempers of the womenfolk," said Mistress Strudwick, as +she sat on her porch with some chosen cronies, and watched the young +girls of the town promenading in the aftermath of the July sunset with +never a cavalier among them. "Look at Lucinda Hardy, she's as cross as a +patch; and yonder is Janet Cameron, who has not curled her hair for a +week--just mops it up any way, since there are no men to see it." + +"And there's 'Liza Jones without her stays," said Mistress Clevering. + +"Yes, and looking for all the world like a comfortable pillow that has +just been shaken up; but if there was a man under threescore in seeing +distance, she'd be as trim as you please," replied Mistress Strudwick. +"Heigh-ho, what a slipshod world this would be if there were nobody but +women in it!" + +"And what a topsy-turvy place 'twould be with only men. Nobody'd ever +know where anything was," said quiet Mistress Cheshire, with poignant +recollections of striving to keep up with the belongings of two +husbands. "Depend upon it, Martha Strudwick, the world would be a deal +worse off without women than without men, for men never can find +anything." + +"I am quite of your mind, Mary. In sooth, I always had a sneaking notion +that Columbus brought his wife along when he came to discover America, +and that 'twas she who first saw the land," said Sally Ruffin. + +"I don't seem to remember that there was a Mistress Columbus," said Ann +Clevering, biting off her thread with a snap. + +"Well, goodness knows there had ought to have been, for Columbus had a +son," replied Martha Strudwick, greatly scandalized, although her own +knowledge in the matter was somewhat hazy. + +"How 'pon earth did we ever get to talking such wise things as history?" +asked Mistress Cheshire, whose _forte_ was housewifely recipes. + +"We were saying as how men never could find things." + +"Oh, yes." + +"Well," said Martha Strudwick, thoughtfully, "that depends on what kind +of things you mean. Now there's my husband--and he's a good man, good as +common--he can find a fish-hook in the dark if it's good biting season; +but he can't see the long-handled hoe in the broad daylight if it's +weeding time in the garden and the sun is hot. Finding things depends +more on a man's mind than his eyes." + +"Then there's a heap of them who lose their minds mighty handy," +retorted Ann Clevering. + +Mistress Cheshire pushed back her chair: "I shall run home and caution +Dilsy about putting the bread to rise; she's that unseeing that I think +Providence must have first meant her to be a man." Which was as near a +joke as anything Mistress Cheshire ever said. As she trotted away the +others looked after her affectionately. + +"Mary is such a mild-mannered woman," said Ann Clevering; "many's the +time I've heard her first husband--dead and gone these twenty-three +years--say it was an accident little short of a miracle how Providence +could make a woman with so little tongue." + +"Joscelyn, with her goings-on, must be a dreadful trial to her," sighed +Amanda Bryce. + +"And not only to her mother, but to the whole town," snapped another +woman. + +"Hoity-toity!" bristled Mistress Strudwick, "what's the matter with +Joscelyn? She is the very life of the place, now that the men are gone. +If 'twere not for discussing her, and abusing her,"--with a withering +glance at the last speaker,--"we should go tongue-tied for lack of +somewhat to talk about. She's a tonic for us all, and without her we'd +be going to sleep." + +"Sleep is a good thing," sniffed Amanda Bryce. + +"Ay," retorted Mistress Strudwick, "when you are tucked in bed and the +lights are out, it is; but not when you are standing up flat-footed with +baking and brewing and weaving and such things to look after. Joscelyn's +all right, Tory though she be. Look at her now, with all those red roses +stuck around her belt; she's the finest sight on the street." + +"Fine enough to look at, I'm not gainsaying you; what I object to is +hearing her when she talks about our war." + +"Well, Amanda, if our swords were all as sharp as her tongue can be, the +war would soon be over." + +"You always were partial to the lass, Martha." + +"Ay, I often told Richard Clevering I'd be his rival were I a man, old +or young; and truly I believe Joscelyn would look with more favour upon +me of the two," laughed the corpulent dame, remembering the soft little +touches with which the girl sometimes tidied up her gray hair and unruly +neckerchief, and the caress upon her cheek that always closed the job. + +"I wonder you can take up so for her, Martha, when all your menfolk are +in the Continental army, and she a rank Tory." + +"Oh, I can forgive a woman her politics, because, like a man's +religion, it's apt to be picked up second-hand and liable to change at +any time." + +"Don't you believe men have any true religion?" + +"Well, ye-e-s; if the rain comes in season, and the crops are good, and +the cattle don't break into the corn, and their victuals are well +cooked, they are apt to be middling religious." + +"Remember you have a husband of your own." + +"Yes, praise God, I have, and a good man he is, too; but when the dam in +the levee breaks, or the cows get the hollow-horn, he's that rearing, +tearing put out that he couldn't say offhand whether preordination or +general salvation was the true doctrine; but the time never comes when +he's too mad or too worried to know he's a Whig, every hair of him. That +is what makes me say religion is a picked-up habit with men and politics +is their nature. With a woman it's the other way; so I laugh at +Joscelyn's politics, and kiss her bonny face and love her all the time." + +"That is more than I can do. If it were not for her mother, I should +forbid my daughter to have aught to do with her," said Amanda Bryce, +sniffily, as Joscelyn passed the gate with Betty Clevering and Janet +Cameron, and called up a pleasant "good afternoon" to the elder women. + +"Well, your girl and not Joscelyn would be the loser thereby," retorted +Martha Strudwick, regardless of the fact that she was in her own house; +and there would doubtless have been sharp words had not Mistress +Clevering interposed with some gentle remonstrance. + +A little later the whole party of young people began to move toward the +tavern; for it was the day the post was due, if by good fortune it had +escaped the marauders and highwaymen who, in the assumed name of war, +infested the roads. Always there was a crowd about the tavern on +Thursday afternoons, in hopes that news of the fighting and of friends +would be forthcoming. This particular day they were not disappointed; +for the women on the porch, looking up the street, presently saw that +something unusual was to pay, and forgetful of bonnets or caps, they +hastened to learn what it was. The postbag, with its slender store, lay +neglected on the table, for the crowd had gathered eagerly about some +one on the steps, and exclamations and questions filled the air. + +"What is it?" demanded Mistress Strudwick, breathless from her haste, +and the crowd divided and showed a lad, pale and worn, sitting on the +steps. + +"Billy, my Billy!" shrieked Amanda Bryce, and passing the other women, +she caught him in her arms and hugged him frantically. For a few moments +no one spoke or interfered, but after the dame had kissed every square +inch of his face, and had felt his head, shoulders, and arms for +fractures, Martha Strudwick interposed. + +"Come, Billy, tell us where you come from and what news you bring from +the front. Has there been a fight, boy?" + +"Ay, and a victory for us." + +"A victory? Hurrah! When? Where? Talk quick!" cried a dozen voices +shrill with their eagerness. + +"At Monmouth town in Jersey. 'Twas there we overtook Clinton as he made +for New York." + +"We have already had rumours of it. And you did fight him and put him to +rout? Who fell, and who was wounded? Can't you talk faster?" + +"Truly we did fight when we got the chance, though Lee--the foul fiends +take him!--tried hard not to let us. It was the hottest day I ever felt. +The sand and dust--" + +"Never mind about the sand and dust; tell us of the battle." + +And so by piecemeal, with many a question and interruption, he told them +the story of that remarkable battle and his own capture. + +"And who was taken with you?" + +"Master Peter Ruffin, Amos Andrews, and Richard Clevering from our +company, and some threescore more whom I knew not." + +But only a few heard the last clause of his sentence, for among the +women were relatives and friends of each of the men mentioned, and there +were sobs and moans for the fate of their loved ones. So great was the +abhorrence in which British prisons were held, that death seemed almost +preferable. Then presently Betty Clevering cried shrilly:-- + +"And if you were captured, how comes it you are here?" + +"I escaped." + +"And how many escaped with you?" + +"None--none; not even Richard." + +Mistress Ruffin took him sharply by the arm. "Do you mean to say that a +strip of a lad like you had sense enough to get away, and grown men were +held? That's a pretty tale!" + +And then with stifled sobs he told of Richard's sacrifice and his own +getting away. + +"For an hour I waited there in the grass, hoping for him to come; and +when I dared stay no longer I crept to the hillside and hid in a little +cave, from which I watched the army in the distance take up its march +next day. I started once to go back and die with Richard in prison, +but--" + +"Talk not so, my son; 'twould have killed me and done Richard no good," +cried his mother, caressing his curly head against her shoulder. +"Richard did not want you back--God bless him for a generous lad!" + +"No," sobbed the lad, "he is so noble, so good; and I let him go back, +let him sacrifice himself for me, for had I but slept on he would have +gotten away." + +All this while Mistress Clevering had not spoken; now she lifted her +head, and no mother of Sparta ever looked more proud or more resigned. + +"Yes, you were right to come away; he gave you your freedom at the cost +of his own, and it would have grieved him had you returned and made the +sacrifice useless. 'Tis a beautiful thing to be the mother of a son like +that. I am content." And Martha Strudwick leaned over and kissed her +softly. + +"And how fared it with you when the British had marched away?" asked his +mother of Billy. + +"I reached the coast and followed it for two days, when I came to a +village whence a trading vessel was leaving to smuggle its cargo to the +south. The captain took me on, and after ten days I was put ashore near +New Berne town, from which place I have made my way home, travelling +with the post these two days." + +"You have not then been back to the army?" + +"No, but I shall start to-morrow, now that I have seen you, mother, and +when I have given Richard's messages to Mistress Clevering and--" + +He stopped; but his glance had travelled to Joscelyn standing at the +edge of the crowd, and Janet Cameron laughed. + +"What said my boy? Out with it!" cried Mistress Clevering, eagerly. + +"He did send you his dear love, even as he was to bring mine to mother +had I been the one left behind. I would I could tell you how reverent +and tender his voice was when he spoke your name." + +The Spartan in the woman broke down, and the mother prevailed. "My son, +my dear son, did God give you in answer to my prayers only to take you +away like this? What may he not be suffering at this very moment, and I +who have watched him from his cradle powerless to help him! Oh, but war +is a cruel thing! My son, my son!" + +Betty and Mistress Cheshire led her away weeping, and for a few minutes, +silence held the women as they looked away to the north and thought of +the strife enacting, and the pain being endured there for liberty. And +besides those carried away into captivity, how many others--perhaps +their own nearest and dearest--had been left on the battle-field? + +"See," cried Amanda Bryce, turning fiercely on Joscelyn, whose eyes, +full of a misty tenderness, were following Aunt Clevering down the +street--"see what you miserable Tories are doing to us, your neighbours! +Shame upon you, I say; shame upon you!" + +"Ay, shame upon you!" cried several voices; and faces scowled and a few +fists were clenched. The girl cowered back, amazed, affrighted. + +"Pull those red roses out of her belt; we want no Tory colours here!" +cried Amanda Bryce; and two or three hands reached toward the knot of +scarlet blossoms. But Joscelyn, her eyes beginning to kindle, stepped +back and raised her own hand warningly. + +"Do not touch me! Yes, I am a Tory, as you are pleased to call us, +and I am not ashamed that the king's army hath been preserved from +destruction; but I am sorry, very sorry your friends and kindred are +to suffer--though perhaps some punishment is necessary to rebels." + +Mistress Strudwick started to the girl's side, but little Billy Bryce +was before her. + +"Who touches Joscelyn must first pass me!" he cried to the angry women. +"Mother, be silent! What share could a girl like this have in our +capture; and what matters a few men taken when the victory was ours?" + +"Yes, praise God, we thrashed the miserable cowards of Redcoats as they +deserved." + +"A great thrashing 'twas, when they lost not a wagon of their train, and +took more prisoners than Washington," Joscelyn answered tartly. + +A dozen voices answered her angrily, and she opened her lips to reply, +but Mistress Strudwick clapped her broad palm over the girl's mouth. + +"Hold your saucy tongue, Joscelyn; and you girls, there, be silent this +minute. What, is the war to ruin the manners of our women that they can +descend so low as to brawl in the public streets? Shame upon you, every +one! What hath come of your senses that you thus demean yourselves and +belittle the raising your elders gave you?" + +The reproof had the desired effect; for the girl stood silent and +abashed, and her angry assailants drew back. Taking advantage of the +lull, Mistress Strudwick seized Joscelyn by the arm and almost forcibly +drew her away. + +"Begone to your home, and bide there till you learn some sense," she +cried sharply. "What's the use in butting your brains out against a +wall, when there's room enough to go around it? There is no fool like a +self-made fool! Go." But when the girl had gone a few steps she made her +return. "Promise me truly," she whispered, "that you'll go straight home +and stay until the fire you kindled here burns down a bit--promise you +will not stir from the house, or I shall not sleep to-night." + +"I promise, dear Mistress Strudwick," Joscelyn said, kissing the big +hand that patted her cheek. "You heard me say I was sorry our townsfolk +were taken, and so I am." + +"Yes, yes. Harkee, tell your mother I say to be sure and send Amanda +Bryce a loaf of hot bread for supper--Billy will be hungry with running +so far from Monmouth," she said, with a meaning wink. In truth, she +intended the hot bread as a peace-offering to Mistress Bryce, for it +was by such small acts of quiet diplomacy that she kept down the enmity +against the Cheshires, or rather against Joscelyn, since she it was who +aroused the resentment. + +Slowly the girl went down the street thinking of the scene just passed. +Mistress Strudwick was right; it was a disgrace for women to brawl thus +upon the public thoroughfares; never again would she let her temper get +the better of her in this way--only they should not touch her. And +already half-forgetful of her resolution, she mounted her steps with +flashing eyes and flaming cheeks. + +Presently lights began to glimmer through the dusk, and when the dark +really came every house in the town showed a candle in its window in +token of the advantage won at Monmouth, for since Washington held the +field they deemed him victorious. Even in those houses where grief had +entered, the light shone; for true patriotism is never selfish. Only the +Cheshire windows were dark, so that the house made a blot in the street. +Mistress Cheshire had gone to the Cleverings to condole with them over +Richard; but Joscelyn, because of her promise to Mistress Strudwick, had +bided at home, though she would much have loved to comfort Betty. From +porch to porch the women called to each other, and some of the girls +sang snatches of song here and there, like mocking-birds hid in the +shadows. But Joscelyn sat at her upper window, silent and musing, +thinking what a beautiful thing Richard Clevering had done to let the +little lad go free while he himself went back to captivity. Suddenly a +voice below her whispered:-- + +"Hist! Joscelyn, Joscelyn!" + +She leaned over the window-sill. "Who is it?" + +"It is I--Billy Bryce. I have only a minute, for mother must not know I +came, but I have a message for you." + +"From whom comes it, Billy?" + +"From Richard. Come quickly." + +She ran lightly down to the veranda and leaned over the railing to the +boy in the shadow. He took her hands eagerly in his. + +"He loves you, Joscelyn!" + +She did not answer. He was too earnest for a jest, so she only pressed +his hand and waited. + +"He is so noble, so generous, Joscelyn; even among us younger boys he +never did a mean thing, and there's not a man in the company who is not +his friend." + +"Yes, I always knew Richard had a kind heart, and his letting you go in +his stead was unselfish--beautiful; and I honour him for it." + +"And do you not love him for it also?" the lad begged wistfully. "Say +that you love him just a little." + +"Nay, Billy; he is brave and kind, and he is my friend and Betty's +brother, therefore do I wish him naught but good fortune and happiness; +but, laddie, I do not love him." + +"You are cruel--heartless!" he cried, flinging her hands away. +"Richard's little finger hath more feeling in it and is worth more than +your whole body." + +"Your championship does you credit, Billy, and I shall not quarrel with +you for appraising my value so low. Mayhap Richard thinks differently." + +"Ay, that he does--more's the pity!" Then taking her hands again, he +said vehemently: "An you come not to love him, I pray God to curse you +with an ugliness so great that no other man may ever kiss or love you! +For listen; as we lay in the dark that night waiting for the moment to +escape, this is what he said: 'If you get away and I do not, say to +Joscelyn Cheshire that even behind prison bars I am her lover; and that +if death comes, her face, or the blessed memory of it, will outshine +those of the angels of Paradise.' That was his message. I have faced +many dangers to bring it to you. Now that you have it, I shall go back +to my regiment, and if a ball finds me, well and good; Richard will know +somehow and somewhere that I did not fail him." + +The girl dropped her head low in the starlight. + +"Good-by, Billy; you have filled your mission bravely. Heaven keep you +safe and send you back once more to your mother and us." + +He put up his hand and stroked her cheek softly. + +"I do not wonder that he loves you, Joscelyn, you are so beautiful, and +you can be so sweet--so sweet," he exclaimed, and then ran away into the +dark, leaving her alone with the words of the love-message ringing in +her ears. + +So still she stood that a big moth flying wearily by rested a moment on +her shoulder; across the way her mother was bidding Aunt Clevering good +night with admonitions to sleep well, and from down the street came the +voices of the singers chanting of victory and the home-coming of loved +ones. But above everything the girl on the dark balcony heard a deep, +strong voice saying, "Even behind prison bars I am her lover." + +Prison bars! + +And suddenly she threw up her arms in the flower-sweet dusk and +whispered vehemently:-- + +"Set him free, dear God! set him free!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +DREAMS. + + "For thoughts, like waves that glide by night, + Are stillest when they shine." + --OLD SONG. + + +"Rouse up, Richard! Rouse up, man! An you give way like this, you'll +soon be taking the ship-fever and dying. 'Tis no use to wilfully hasten +the end," said Peter Ruffin to the apathetic man beside him. + +But Richard sat staring over the waters, saying only in a dogged way, +"'Tis no use to retard it." + +"Ay, but it is; something may happen--Washington may drive Clinton from +New York--" + +"He cannot, for he hath not the force." + +"--Or we may escape." + +Richard glanced around the deck where guards, armed to their teeth, +trod in ceaseless vigil, and then looked away to the shore, where a +few cabins marked the station of the shore patrol who took up the +watch where the ship guard left off, thus making assurance doubly +sure. + +"With the sea and a double guard against us, the chance is not worth the +counting." + +"A resolute man could swim ashore from here." + +"Methinks he could most easily, especially with the tide in his favour; +but if he eludes the watch here, the patrol yonder will shoot him like a +rat when he crawls out of the water. No, Peter, I have gone over it all +in my mind, calculated the method of reaching the water, the length of +the swim, and the best place to land. I have even tried to get speech +with Dame Grant when she comes with her wares, to see if she could not +be bribed to aid me; but the warden never takes his eyes from her until +her sales are over and her boat ready to start. She has a solemnly sour +face, but mayhap a gold piece would soften her heart to mercy. It was +for this that I have hoarded Colborn's gold." + +"I, too, thought of the bumboat woman, but gave up hope of aid from her, +seeing how she is watched. 'Twere as much as her life is worth to give +us the smallest assistance," answered Peter. + +"Yes, we are cut off from every chance, condemned--doomed--and seeing +this, I have given up hope." + +"I am some twenty years your senior, Richard, and I say to you that a +sane man never ceases to hope." + +"Then mayhap I am insane--sometimes I think it may be so. Surely, it was +the arch-fiend himself who put it into the hearts of the English to turn +these disease-infected hulks into prisons; no mere mortal mind could +have in itself conceived such a thought. The fever or the vermin--which +were worse, 'twere hard to say. To rot here inch by inch, and the fight +going on outside! God, but 'tis hard!" + +"Hist! the guard is looking at you suspiciously. 'Tis no use getting his +ill-will; let us talk of something else." And when the sentinel passed +slowly in front of them, the older man was talking of his boy who had +died in childhood, and the younger one had dropped his head again upon +his breast and sat in moody silence. Thus had life crept on for five +weeks, each day of which was a slow-paced agony, each night a long-drawn +horror. + +Wallabout Bay, where the prison-ships were anchored, cut into the Long +Island shore on the north, and was protected from the storms that rocked +the outer deep. Most of the prisoners were seamen, but now and then a +squad of land captives, for lack of some other place in which to confine +them, were sent thither to starve and suffer and wait their turn to die. +The wound in Richard's head had healed, thanks to Colborn's salve; but +the confinement, together with the scant and rancid food and the foul +air in the ship's hold where the nights were passed, was slowly +undermining his strength of body and of will. Each morning the inhuman +order, "Rebels, turn out your dead!" which the guard called down through +the opened hatches, sent a shiver of horror to his very soul; and the +feeling was not lessened as he aided in selecting the poor fellows who +had died in the night, and saw them sewed into their blankets and rowed +away to shallow graves upon the shore. Two of the prisoners were made to +act as grave-diggers on these occasions, the guard going merely to +superintend. + +Twice in the past weeks Richard and Peter had gone in the funeral-boat, +and on each occasion thoughts of making a break for liberty had haunted +them. But the futility of such an attempt was made apparent by the +proximity of the shore patrol, within range of whose guns the graves +were dug. The nearest cover was a line of sand-dunes and stunted +brush-growth fifty yards up the level beach, before reaching which a man +could be pierced by twenty bullets. Regretfully and angrily the two men +noted this; and later on had it all doubly impressed upon them by the +shooting of a prisoner who, one day, when the grave was half-filled, +made the mad attempt to get away. Only one of the two impressed +grave-diggers came back in the boat that day, for the other was buried +where he fell; and the harshness of the ship-jailers increased toward +those who remained. + +"Look," said Richard, shuddering, the second time he and Peter were +detailed to take a corpse to the sandy burying-ground; "already the +waves have opened some of the graves and left the poor fellows but the +scantest covering. Before long their bones will whiten to the sun." + +"It is a sickening certainty! And all of this you and I might escape +if so we would but go back yonder to the warden and take the oath of +allegiance to the king, and change these tattered coats for gay uniforms +of scarlet," answered Peter. + +"True; but like those who have gone before us, we will die in the ship +yonder and fester here in the sand first. Between death and English +slavery there is a quick choice, and we made it long ago. But promise +me, Peter, that if I die first you will ask to come as my sexton, and +dig me a grave deep enough to keep me from the sea for at least a little +while." + +"I will; and you will do a like thing for me. But as I told you the +other day, you will go before me, and soon at that, if so you keep up +this dreary moping." + +But Richard could not bring himself to hope. The absolute helplessness +of their position, the powerlessness of action of any sort took from +him the ability to reason normally. Everything twisted itself backward +to the wretched and relentless present, turn where he would for +consolation. And so after the morning tasks of airing blankets and +scrubbing decks were performed, he sat all day looking sullenly out over +the water, studying the changing moods of the sea, watching the gulls as +they flapped past or went soaring upward with the glancing sunlight on +their wings. And all this while there was but one clear thought in his +mind--Joscelyn. Plainer than the faces about him he saw her features, +and above the ship noises and the restless wash of the waves, he heard +the sweet accents of her voice. Incessantly he brooded over each memory +of her, recalling the chestnut tints of her hair, the blue lights in her +eyes, and the rose hues of cheeks and lips. Her beauty had never before +appeared to him so great or so much to be desired as now. + +"Even behind prison bars I am her lover;" often he said the words to +himself, wondering morbidly if Billy carried her the message, and what +she said in answer. He would never know, of course, for his career must +end yonder in the sand with his unfortunate fellows; but liberty itself +would not be sweeter than some token, it mattered not how small, of her +sorrow and her favour. How he longed for her, body and soul! Always +in fancy he kissed her good night, holding the sweet face between his +palms and watching to see the eyes droop under his ardent gaze, and the +delicate lips quiver with the passion of his caress. He told himself it +was only such fleeting fancies as these that kept him sane. For in these +moments she was tender and loving, and she was all his; and the unknown +husband--he who would one day claim her in reality when he himself, with +his idle dreams, should be dead and gone--he hated with a jealous rage +as vital as though the man stood before him in the flesh; and he looked +at his fingers with a dull sense of their strangling powers, and longed +to feel them tighten over a purpling throat. Peter talked of heaven, of +its rest and peace; but how could there be for him either joy or peace, +even in Paradise, while another man held Joscelyn in his arms? Often in +his cloying misery he tried to make out who this other lover would be; +but no one, not even Eustace Singleton, seemed to fill the place. Once, +and his heart had been hot with jealousy at the thought, he had imagined +that under hers and Eustace's frank friendship there lingered a warmer +feeling; but this fancy stood no test of observation, for in no +act of Joscelyn's was there a trace of that air, indescribable yet +unmistakable, that marks the beginnings of love; and of late months +Eustace had a way of looking at Betty that put strange fancies into +Richard's head. No, Joscelyn and Eustace were not lovers; it would be +some one else, some stranger who would claim all the sweetness of her +love. And at the thought the murderous fingers writhed upon each other, +and the sweat of agony was on his brow. Then his fancy would take +another turn. There was no other lover, there never would be any other; +by strength of his love she belonged to him here and would be his +through all eternity. In heaven there is no marrying nor giving in +marriage, so the Bible said; but surely God would be merciful to him, +knowing how he had missed his happiness here. + +This was the dream-palace in which he dwelt, while he gazed vacantly +over the sunlit sea and waited to be sewed into his blanket and carried +across to the white sands by those who, in their turn, one after +another, should follow to the same end. + +And then, one morning when August was well on the wane, something +happened that broke the spell of deadening despair that held him in its +grasp. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +NEWS OF LOVE AND WAR. + + "Hidden perfumes and secret loves betray themselves." + --JOUBERT. + + +"Joscelyn, from my upper window I have seen a rider turn into the next +street and make for the tavern. Perchance he brings news or letters. +Will you come with me and see?" It was Betty's voice under her window, +and Joscelyn put her head out a moment to say she would go; then ran +downstairs. And go she did in spite of her mother's vehement protest. + +"'Tis scarce three weeks gone since you were reviled in the streets as a +Tory, and now you will go thrust yourself in place to receive the same +treatment again. 'Tis folly--ay, worse than folly!" + +But Joscelyn scarcely heard, for in the street Betty was pulling her +along at such a pace. + +"Methought you would be glad to get a letter from--well, from--It is +something over three weeks since you last heard from--" a shy little +laugh finished the sentence, and she gave Joscelyn an extra pull which +set them into a run. + +"How glad somebody would be to see you in such haste to get a letter +written to me," panted Joscelyn, laughing. + +"Whither away so fast?" cried Mistress Strudwick from her door; but they +did not stop to answer, only calling back merrily that a man, grown, yet +not old, nor crippled, nor blind, had ridden into the square, and they +were going to have a look at so wonderful a curiosity. + +As they turned into the open space before the court-house, the town-bell +struck a few resonant notes, a signal from the decrepit old ringer that +there was news for somebody. In a few minutes the place was thronged +with eager wives and mothers and sweethearts crying out for tidings of +their loved ones. Did the man bring any? Yes, he was but now out of the +north; whither he went mattered not to them, a man's mission was his own +secret, but in his pouch were letters for towns along the route, and he +brought, besides, news of the dreadful massacre in Pennsylvania. And +when the few letters were distributed he stood upon the steps and told +the pitiful story of Wyoming Valley. + +"The able-bodied men were away fighting with Washington; only the old +men and women and children remained. Upon this helpless band hundreds of +British and Indians, led by Butler, fell, driving them to the fort. +Thence the men, shaking with age, but not with fear, sallied to the +attack, were defeated and captured, and in sight of those within were +tortured with every fiendish device the savages could invent. Then the +fort surrendered, and in spite of Butler's efforts tomahawk and +scalping-knife did their deadly work among the helpless captives. +Outraged women, spitted upon rails, saw their tender babes brained +against rocks and trees. The yells of the captors were mingled with the +cries for mercy and the shrieks of the dying, and night was turned into +day by the light of burning villages. In all the beautiful valley not a +house was spared; and where had been prosperity is now but a desolate +wilderness strewn with graves and ruins." + +When he finished, women were weeping upon each other's necks, thinking +of their own little ones and those other murdered babies. And fierce was +the denunciation of Butler for enlisting in his army savages whose +brutality could not be controlled. This was not war; it was +assassination, as cowardly as it was cruel. + +So bitter was the feeling aroused, that for a while the fact that the +courier had brought some letters was quite overlooked, until Mistress +Nash and Janet Cameron came forward with epistles which contained +messages for many of those present. Then it was remembered that the +other two letters had both been for Joscelyn Cheshire, and immediately a +dozen voices demanded her. But she was already well down the street, her +arm linked in Betty Clevering's. + +"Come away, Aunt Cheshire will be wretched about you," the latter had +whispered to her, remembering the scene in this very place a few weeks +before and dreading a repetition of it, and in her secret heart wishing +that at least one of the letters in Joscelyn's hand should not be read +aloud to the public, knowing well that in it was some love-message for +herself, for was not that why Eustace wrote so often to Joscelyn? And so +she dragged her companion back the way they had come; but as they walked +Joscelyn tore open the letter with the familiar seal, exclaiming +gayly:-- + +"Paper is not scarce with Eustace, since he sends me three whole sheets. +Let me see--Betty--Betty--Betty--just in a fleeting glance I see your +name some eight times. What a fondness he hath for writing the word!" + +"Let me read with you, Joscelyn," cried Betty, her cheeks very bright; +and drawing close together the two girls held the sheet between them and +slackened their pace. But they were not left long to their privacy, for +by the time they reached the Cheshire door a dozen neighbours were upon +them. + +"So, so, Joscelyn, be not running away with your tidings. Tell us what +Clinton is doing in New York," exclaimed Mistress Strudwick, who had +come with the others to give the girl countenance, if so she should need +it. + +"Ay, do not be playing the selfish, but give us the news," cried several +voices. + +"I am as ignorant as you of General Clinton's doings," the girl said, +smiling at the first speaker; "for, as far as I have got, the letter is +full of questions about somebody here at home." + +"Yes, a spying letter for information, no doubt," sneered Amanda Bryce. +"The courier said they were both from some one in New York. Who writes +to you from Clinton's army?" + +"Eustace Singleton, a handsome lad whom you know right well, Mistress +Bryce." + +"He sends you two letters by the same hand? Faith! he is an ardent +correspondent." + +"Nay, this other letter is in a strange writing. I know not yet who hath +sent it." + +"Break the wafer and read it to us." + +"I do not choose, Mistress Bryce, to give my letters to the public." + +"Do not choose, because you do not dare." + +"Do not dare?" + +"Hush, Joscelyn, she does not mean what she says," put in Mistress +Strudwick. + +"Yes, I do mean it, Martha, every word of it. She dare not read it, +because it is a spying letter,--asking information, mayhap, which may +give us over to a massacre like to that of Wyoming: that's why she dare +not." + +A chorus of cries and hisses arose, but the girl on the step did not +quail. Her delicate lip curled with scorn. "'Tis false! You do all know +I would be incapable of such wickedness." + +"Then read us the letter and prove it." + +"I will not." + +She thrust the letter into her bosom and faced them with flashing eyes, +the very picture of defiance. But a touch from Mistress Strudwick +quelled the storm within her. Turning swiftly, she put her arm around +the old woman's neck. "There, I am going to be good. I would not +distress you and mother again for the world. But you know I have the +right of it." + +"Yes," echoed Janet Cameron, taking her place on the other side of +Joscelyn. "We all know that though you are a Tory, you are no traitor; +and I say, Out upon Mistress Bryce for hinting such a thing! I am a +Continental, and my father is in Charleston fighting for the cause, but +I would trust Joscelyn Cheshire to the end of the world!" + +Out in the crowd the sentiment against the girl instantly changed, and +all but Amanda Bryce applauded Janet's words. + +"Eustace Singleton writes her naught but love-letters--let her keep +them!" cried another girl. "Methinks I should not want the world to be +reading my sweetheart's letters and counting the kisses he sends me." + +"No, nor those he gives you," said Martha Strudwick, with a merry wink, +and instantly there was a great laugh, for the girl had been caught +kissing her lover the winter day on which the troops had marched, for +which imprudence her mother had soundly boxed her ears. + +"And now," cried Joscelyn, when the laugh had passed, "to prove that +there is no treason in this letter, I shall let Betty Clevering--as good +a Continental as the best of you--sit down yonder on the bench and read +every word of it before I myself have seen it. Here, Betty, be you the +judge whether what is herein writ is of treasonable import; and mind you +skip nothing, particularly the love passages." She laughingly pushed +Betty upon the bench, and leaving Eustace's letter in her hands, came +back to Janet's side. + +"My letter was from my brother, Joscelyn; and he said he knew not where +Richard had been sent. He himself is in the old Sugar House in New York; +what he suffers he will not say, but we can guess, since so much has +been said of the place." + +Joscelyn kissed the tearful face softly. "Perchance your imagination is +over-vivid. It grieves me to the quick that any of our townsfolk should +suffer." + +"It will be a great relief to his mother to know that Richard is not in +the Sugar House." + +"Yes, there is only one worse prison in the country, and that is for the +captured seamen." + +"Do not let us talk of its horrors." + +So the conversation went on until Betty Clevering, her face like a +budding rose, came forward again. + +"This letter," she said, holding up the missive, "is one of friendship +merely; in it I find absolutely nothing against our cause, save a curse +on the war that keeps the writer from--from her he loves." + +"Dear me, to see her blush one would think it were Betty's love-letter, +not Joscelyn's." + +"How shy she looks!" + +"Betty, was it writ so tenderly that you, who are but an outsider, are +abashed to read it? Truly, I wish Master Singleton would give lessons in +love writing. My man talks so much of General Washington and his doings +that he quite forgets to put in the love passages." + +"And 'tis for those that a woman reads her letters," said Mistress +Strudwick. "The 'I love yous' and 'dears' and 'kisses' scattered through +the pages mean more to her heart than the announcement of a victory. In +faith, old woman as I am, I always read the last sentence first, knowing +it will be the sweetest, if so the writer is in his senses." + +"That is why I wanted so much to read Joscelyn's letter. I knew Eustace +would never plot against his own town any more than she would, but an +ardent love-letter makes good reading, no matter to whom it may be +writ," laughed Dorothy Graham, breaking a glowing rose from a nearby +bush, and holding it playfully against Betty's cheek, looking archly at +her companions as she tapped first one and then the other with her +finger, whereupon the laugh again arose, for some had long ago guessed +at Eustace's passion. + +Meantime, Joscelyn, drawing somewhat apart, took the strange letter from +her dress and broke the wafer. The missive covered but one scant page, +but those who watched as she read saw her face grow pale and her lip +tremble. + + MISTRESS JOSCELYN CHESHIRE, in Hillsboro'-town: + + Richard Clevering, with ten of his comrades, taken at Monmouth + field, lies in one of the prison-ships in Wallabout Bay. If he is + aught to you,--you know best whom _he_ loves,--bestir yourself for + an exchange, for only that can save him from the sure death that + lurks in those accursed hulks. I, one of the guard that carried him + there, promised him that you should know, and at the risk of + discovery and punishment I thus keep my promise. He is brave and + generous. It were a pity to let him die. + JAMES COLBORN. + + NEW YORK, this tenth day of July, 1778. + +Even in the far southern towns the infamy of those prison-ships had been +told, and with a sudden gesture of compassion the girl stretched her +arms toward the opposite house. + +"Aunt Clevering, poor Aunt Clevering!" and thrusting the letter into +Mistress Strudwick's hands, she exclaimed: "Here read it--read it aloud, +then take it over yonder--I cannot." And gathering Betty close in her +arms she listened while the letter was read to the sorrowing women. + +"Who are the others? Called he no names?" + +"Oh, mayhap one is my son!" + +"And another may be my husband!" + +"Even the Sugar House had been easier than this! Mark you what we have +heard of the ferocity of the jailers, the foulness of the food, the +loathsomeness of the ships! They will die, our brave lads will all die +there!" + +"Will die?--Nay, perchance they are already dead; 'tis a month since +this letter was writ, and two months since Monmouth fight." + +And the letter went the rounds of the town, carrying sorrow everywhere +and a miserable dread and uncertainty into many homes, for all of the +men missing from Monmouth were not yet accounted for. Whose dear ones +were suffering with Richard, mine or thine, or our neighbour's? + +All the afternoon, Joscelyn paced her floor, her brows knitted, her +fingers clenched. She knew best whom he loved? Yes, she knew. Every day +for the past year he had let her see his heart; even in their quarrels +over the war, he had not forgotten that he loved her. At first she had +taken it for a passing fancy, and had treated him with laughing +coquetry, fanning his love later on into the white flame of passion with +that groundless jealousy of Eustace. Then it was she realized what it +was with which she was playing. + +And now he was lying in that loathsome ship, with the fever on one side +and the harsh keepers on the other. Did she care as he wanted her to +care? No, but her anger against him for his persistent assumption of her +acquiescence in his suit was all forgotten; she remembered only the +happy side of their friendship, and that he was Betty's brother. She +could not put aside the appeal in Colborn's letter, for it was an appeal +from Richard himself; and yet what could she, a mere girl without aid or +influence, do to set him free? That was why her hands were clenched and +she paced her floor with quick steps. Then at last she sat down, and +opening her portfolio she wrote for half an hour, covering sheet after +sheet. When they were done she gathered them up quickly and ran +downstairs and crossed the street to the opposite house. There all was +sadness and tears because of Colborn's news. + +"Here, Betty," she said, placing the folded sheets upon the table; +"Eustace Singleton is on Lord Cornwallis's staff and must have influence +with him, and through him, with General Clinton. I have written Eustace +to use all effort and despatch in Richard's behalf, but you must add a +postscript to make the plea effective." + +"And why, I pray you, should he heed a postscript from Betty?" asked her +mother, angrily, forgetful for a moment of her grief. + +"Because," Joscelyn answered, facing her calmly, "he loves her, and the +few words she writes will outweigh all my pages." + +"What! That Loyalist, the son of Joseph Singleton, our old enemy, in +love with my daughter? This is some mockery." + +"It is the sober truth." + +"I do not believe it; but if it be so, then will Richard and I have a +word to say in the matter. Betty, put down that quill; I will not have +you stoop to ask a favour of that family." + +"Not even for Richard's life and freedom, Aunt Clevering?" + +"I do not believe he has any influence. In love with my daughter--what +impudence!" + +"Rather what good fortune, since it may save your son." + +"Mother, it seems our one chance; bid me write." And Joscelyn joined in +the girl's plea. + +The older woman's features worked spasmodically, but presently she +nodded slowly. "For Richard's sake, Joscelyn, yes; but mind you, Betty +will set him out in short order if ever he presumes to declare himself. +She knows her duty; no Singleton blood comes into my family." + +She could not see Betty's face, for Joscelyn stood between them; but two +weeks later Eustace kissed the blots where the tears had fallen just +under her pleading little postscript:-- + + "Because of all you said to me in Joscelyn's parlour, because of + your red roses which I wore in the privacy of my room until they + faded, I beseech you, save my brother!" + +"But oh, Joscelyn, suppose he can do nothing?" + +"Then, dear, we must carry our plea to Lord Cornwallis. My father and he +were friends in England; perhaps we may gain his ear through that +old-time acquaintance." + +"And how will you reach Cornwallis?" Mistress Clevering asked +doubtfully. + +"If need be, Betty and I will seek him in General Clinton's camp." + +Betty put her cheek close to the girl's. "Joscelyn, after all you are +not indifferent to Richard," she whispered, half wistfully, half +joyously. + +But Joscelyn's face was almost stern. "This letter from Colborn is in +truth a plea from Richard, since he must have bid the man write. Think +you I could let such a thing pass unanswered--and from your brother, +too?" + +"God bless you, Joscelyn, though your heart is as hard as flint." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +AN AWAKENING AND A MUTINY. + + "I can bear scorpion's stings, tread fields of fire, + In frozen gulfs of cold eternal lie; + Be tossed aloft through tracts of endless void-- + But cannot live in shame." + --JOANNA BAILLIE. + + +Besides the patrol and the ship's long-boat only one other ever tied up +to the prison-vessels, and that one belonged to Dame Grant, the bumboat +woman, who brought such small luxuries as the prisoners were able to +purchase. She herself seldom came on board, but sent up her tiny parcels +by two boys who made their deliveries under the eye of the warden. This +was the woman Richard had hoped to bribe to aid his escape, but with +whom he had never found the smallest opportunity to speak at close +range. She was corpulent and coarse of feature, and the boys who served +her often felt the weight of her big hand; but Richard had once thrown +her a jest over the rail, and she had laughed good-naturedly, showing +that she had a soft side to her rough exterior. In the lining of his +ragged boot were the few coins Colborn had given him, but not so much as +a letter had he been able to bribe her to take. Often he cursed the +watchfulness of the sentinel, longing to send at least some little +message to those who thought of him in far-off Hillsboro'-town. + +The morning of his awakening from the despairing stupor in which nearly +two months had been passed, it so chanced that Dame Grant brought in her +boat a basket of pears. Very luscious they looked, for sun and dew had +kissed them lavishly; but only the guards could pay their price, so the +prisoners feasted with their eyes only. By and by, however, one of the +sentinels who had purchased some of the fruit went to attend to some +duty below, and left one of the pears on the rail of the deck. So +transparent was his action and so subtle the temptation, that it almost +seemed he had set a delicate trap for some unwary captive. If, indeed, +it was a trap, it caught its prey; for one of the prisoners, a poor old +man, starving, yet too ill to eat the mouldy biscuit and rancid meat +that was their daily portion, saw the tempting fruit and stole it, +hoping the owner would think it had rolled off into the water with the +rocking of the ship. But nothing escaped the argus-eyed watch; one of +the other sentinels saw him as he ravenously devoured it, and collaring +the trembling culprit carried him to the warden. He acknowledged the +theft, excusing himself on the plea of extreme hunger, and begged for +mercy. He might as well have asked for the sun, whose rays whitened the +deck and shimmered on the restless waves. + +"I will make an example of him that we may have no more thieving on this +ship. Order the prisoners out that they may see," commanded the warden, +a big-thewed fellow with the face of a bulldog. + +The culprit, whose age alone should have protected him, was stripped to +the waist and dragged to the middle of the deck, where he stood weak, +scarred, emaciated,--as pitiful an object as the sun ever shone upon. In +a wide circle about him were crowded the unwilling prisoners, their +faces scowling with a helpless rage; and behind these were posted the +guards with levelled guns. While the warden knotted his lash, Peter and +Richard, after a whispered consultation with those nearest to them, +stepped forward and touched their caps. + +"If you please," said Peter, acting as spokesman, "we will all of us +give something toward the price of the fruit, if you will spare this +man." + +The warden wheeled suddenly upon them and struck out with his whip, +barely missing Peter's head. "Back with you, an you want not the lash +upon your own backs, hounds that you are! The first man of you who stirs +again shall have his share of this pastime." The ferocity of his look +and voice quelled any further attempt at conciliation, and the prisoners +turned their faces sullenly away. + +"So it's delicacies your stomach craves, is it?" sneered the warden to +the trembling man before him. "Well, does that taste like pears--or +that--or that?" and the cruelly knotted lash swirled through the air, +and fell again and again upon the quivering flesh of the helpless +creature. The man staggered, screamed, reeled from place to place, and +finally fell. A harsh laugh answered his cries for mercy, and the lash +went on until the blood spurted from the livid welts upon his body, +while his groans were horrible to hear; and the prisoners groaned in +answer. But the warden's fury was aroused, and the blows fell until +insensibility mercifully came, and the man lay still in a pool of his +own blood. + +"So shall it fare with every thief among you!" cried the warden, +throwing the whip down and facing around the scowling circle. But he saw +there no intimidation, but a wrath that needed but a touch to burst into +a storm, and he was quick to take the warning. + +"Dismiss the prisoners below," he thundered to the guards, and went +swiftly to his own cabin. + +As Richard watched the cruel scene, something had stirred and then +suddenly snapped within him; the inert, despairing stupor was gone, and +in its place was a wild desire for action. Every nerve within him +quivered with a savage impulse to give the brutal warden blow for +blow--nay, two for one; that was what he wanted to do. His fingers +closed in a fierce grip, and only Peter's firm hand held him in his +place. + +"The guards would riddle you with bullets before you could get to him," +the latter whispered, under cover of that other terrible noise of the +flogging. + +"I have but once to die. Unhand me!" + +"Yes, but death here would be wasted. Wait." + +From that hour Richard was a changed man; the dulness of despondency was +gone, and in its place there had come a recklessness, a demon of +desperation, that nothing could still. + +"I shall not stay quietly here to be flogged or to rot with the fever +and starvation," he said to Peter, and his jaw was hard and square. "I +shall get away or I shall die in the attempt." + +Two days later the flogged man was sewed into his blanket and carried +away in the funeral-boat; and the malcontent of the prisoners broke out +in angry mutterings. Here Richard, who had been brooding over a plan of +escape, believed he saw his chance. By night his plan was laid; and when +the hatches were beaten down and they lay in serried rows in the +stinking hold, he went from man to man and told his scheme. It was to be +a mutiny, a direct revolt. At a given signal they were to rise in a +body, fall upon the guards, over-power them--kill them--and then pulling +up the anchor they were to run the ship to the open sea, beach her +somewhere on the Jersey coast if she gave signs of leaking, and take +their chance to hide along the shore until they could get away into the +interior. Richard was to head them, for in his voice and manner the men +recognized the spirit of a leader. He longed with something akin to +ferocity to strike the first blow at the warden. + +"And besides," he said, "since I have proposed the plan it is but meet +that I should assume the first risk. If I fall, Peter will take my +place. Jack Bangs here has been on the sea all his life, and knows the +coast hereabouts as we know our farms at home. What say you to giving +him charge of the ship and letting him choose his own sailing crew?" + +"Good; he is the man for the place." + +"Very well," said Bangs; "but we cannot go down the Jersey coast, for we +would have to pass too many posts of the enemy, besides the guns in the +New York harbour. We must steer east through the sound, and if the ship +is beached, it must be on the Connecticut or Rhode Island coast." + +"Very well; that is not so convenient, since it takes us far from our +army, but anywhere will be better than here." + +They counted every risk: the difficulty of disarming the guards, the +proximity of the other two prison-ships, the interference of the shore +patrol in their swift-sailing boat, the disabled and sailless condition +of their own vessel; but nothing turned them from their purpose. Every +detail of the plot was arranged when toward morning the men lay down for +a little rest and sleep. + +All the morning Richard scrubbed or cleaned as the guards bade, and then +sat on deck with his eyes alternately upon the sun and the ship. + +But toward the middle of the afternoon Richard noticed signs of +dissatisfaction among a few of the men near the stern, where there was +an improvised back-gammon board. They were evidently angry about +something. A quarrel at this spot was a daily occurrence, and occasioned +no surprise among the sentinels; but Richard guessed that some other +cause was at the bottom of this, and gradually made his way to Peter's +side. + +"'Tis Henry Crane," Peter whispered, and his close-shut fists showed an +emotion his face concealed. "He is jealous that the ship was given to +Bangs rather than to him, and he and some of his fellows--his old +crew--are threatening mischief." + +"Fool, to risk his neck and liberty for a damnable vanity!" Rising, +Richard crossed to the group of players, and sinking down upon the deck +gathered the dice into his hand as though to take part in the sport. + +"I play to win; and the man who fouls my game--for any cause +whatsoever--has me to answer to," he said with stern emphasis, his +fearless eyes fixed steadily on Crane's face. The man flushed and began +to mumble an answer, but the guard, passing, said sharply:-- + +"Since you cannot play without a row, break up the game." + +The players got up slowly. "You understand?" Richard said under his +breath, and Crane nodded surlily. + +The afternoon wore on and all remained quiet. Crane had evidently +thought better of his foolish jealously. It was growing late, and there +was going to be a high wind, and that was well, for it would set the +tide yet stronger in its outward sweep, and their flight would be all +the swifter. + +It lacked only a little while before the drum-tap. Richard got up and +stood with his face to the glowing west to take his last farewell of the +dream-girl with whom he kept his tryst each evening at this hour. + +"Good-by, sweetheart," he said in his inner consciousness. "I love you. +On your dear eyes I kiss you--so--" + +"Attention! First division carry down their bedding!" + +He wheeled; for he was in that first division. A quick glance about the +deck showed everything quiet as usual. Crane and a few others stood at +the far end of the deck awaiting their order to go down with the rest of +the bedding. This would take only ten minutes, then the drum-tap for the +roll-call and--death or liberty. + +[Illustration: "... THE PRISONERS LINED UP AND ANSWERED TO THEIR +NAMES."] + +Swiftly the first division seized their allotment of the bedding and +passed below. Knowing what was to follow, they did not lose a moment; +but, quick as they were, something happened up above. There was a sound +as of a struggle, a fierce cry, the report of a musket, all so close +together as to seem almost blended into one sound; and then the ship +writhed and quivered with the reverberation of the cannon on the upper +end of the deck. Richard sprang to the ladder, but thrust only his +head above deck when an order to halt, accompanied by a touch of steel +to his temple, brought him up with a pull. But a look showed him what +had happened. Crane and three others lay motionless upon the deck, and +the other two men who had stood with them were covered by the muskets of +the guards, while the warden leaned against the cannon ready to sweep +the deck with another shot should so much as a hand be lifted without +his orders. He was absolute master of the situation. A signal was run +up to the patrol boat, the two mutineers were bound and hurried away; +then the drum tapped for roll-call. But no one made any show of revolt. +With the guards aroused, the patrol alarmed, and that murderous cannon +ready to rake the deck, it had been the act of madmen to resist; so, +scowlingly and surlily the prisoners lined up and answered to their +names, and then marched below, their plans all gone wrong. Richard threw +himself down and sobbed like a child. The plot had failed through the +malice of one man. Crane, thinking everything was ready, and that the +men would all respond to the signal, gave it while Richard was below, +thinking thus to snatch the leadership and gain control of the whole +vessel. But the other men, watching only for Richard's signal, did not +comprehend or respond to this unexpected whistle, only the five who +stood immediately with Crane falling in with his plan. But even they +were not quick enough, for the sentinel upon whom they leaped had time +to cry out the alarm and discharge his gun, while the warden sprang to +the ever-ready cannon. + +Although the prisoners felt the warden's anger in many petty ways, no +other arrests were made; for the two captives took their punishment +heroically and told no tales, and inquiry of course failed to elicit any +information from the rest of the prisoners. + +"I cannot stay here--I will not!" Richard cried vehemently to Peter. "I +am going, and soon at that." + +"What is it you propose to do?" + +"I do not yet know, but I am going, or they shall kill me with a +rifle-ball instead of by slow starvation," he said doggedly. + +Then one night a month later, as they lay gasping for air in the black +hold, he unfolded a plan that made Peter's heart sick with dread and +uncertainty. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +INTO THE JAWS OF DEATH. + + "Let terror strike slaves mute; + Much danger makes great hearts most resolute." + --MARSTON. + + "Death, when unmasked, shows us a friendly face." + --GOLDSMITH. + + +"Rebels, turn out your dead!" + +The inhuman call came down the opened hatches, and the prisoners, stupid +with the foul air they had breathed all night, prepared to obey. So many +times they had heard the cry that they had grown callous to its coarse +brutality. + +It was the end of September, and the delayed equinoctial storm would +soon ravage the coast. For a week the sea-faring folk had been expecting +it; and now at last the great gale or the forerunner of it was upon +them, for all night the waves had been rolling in from the outside with +the sound of thunder. The ship had pitched and tossed and strained at +its moorings, while the living freight in its hold prayed that it might +break away entirely. The hatches, when lifted, showed no blue sky, but +gray clouds and scurrying mist wreaths. The men, coming up out of the +hot and fetid air, shivered a little in the stiff breeze on the deck, +then opening their mouths, drank it in like wine. The faces of the +landsmen had an added ghastliness from seasickness, but they were all +bad enough to look upon,--seamen and soldiers alike. In squads of six +they took their breakfast, eating by sheer force of resolution what they +loathed, that the hunger pains might not gnaw so hard. + +"How many dead this morning?" demanded the warden. + +"Two,--Drake and Cowles," answered Jack Bangs. + +"Nay, there are three, Master Warden," said Peter Ruffin, sadly; "I +found Richard Clevering lying stiff and stark beside me when I got up. +The bodies are there beside the capstan." + +The three were stretched upon the deck; the corner of Richard's blanket, +as if by accident, fell over the upper part of his face, but the mouth +below was blue and drawn. With an exclamation of surprise and sorrow +Jack Bangs crossed the deck and, lifting the blanket for a moment, +looked at the face beneath. Then, reverently replacing it, he made the +sign of the cross above the body, and speaking a few low words to Peter, +went away. The warden, who had watched the scene satirically, gave each +corpse a shove with his foot, cursing the while. + +"D--n 'em! had to die the worst day of the month, that the burial might +be the more troublesome!" He glanced at them again, gave each another +kick, and checked off their names in his book. "Here, fix these hounds +up, and cut your work short so they'll be in the ground before the storm +breaks." + +"If you please, may I go in the boat this morning? Clevering was from my +town, and I should like to pay him this last respect." + +"No." + +Peter knew better than to urge his plea, and so stepped quietly aside. +But the warden, noticing the slow motions of one of the men to whom he +had beckoned, shouted angrily, "Out of the way there, you infernal +snail, or I'll fix you so you'll go in the boat and stay!" + +Peter sprang into the man's place. "I will be very quick," he said, +touching his cap; and without another word wrapped one of the bodies +quickly in its coarse covering and took a few stitches with the needle +his comrade held out. He was so deft, and the lightning was so vivid, +that the warden grunted and let him go on. Under other circumstances he +would have been put in irons for insubordination. + +The stitches in Richard's blanket were few and slight, just enough to +hold it about the body. + +"What was the matter with that fellow? I never heard him say he was +sick," said one of the sentinels, stopping to look on. + +Peter's pulse stood still. "He has complained for some time of a pain +about the heart. All last night he tossed and rolled, and just before +the hatches were opened, he said to me that his time had come. He's +hardly cold yet," he added hastily, as the man bent as though to touch a +hand left exposed by a rent in the blanket. + +"Well, he'll have time enough to get cold in the ground," the warden +said, coming up behind, and mistaking Peter's words for a plea for more +time before the burial. + +"He was a sullen chap to whom I've been looking for trouble. I'll +warrant he gets not cold between this and the devil," the guard said, +giving the stiff body a parting kick. + +The waves tossed furiously, but the long-boat was launched, and two of +the guard took their places in it, while the man who was to assist Peter +at the graves followed to receive the bodies; for the sentinels never +touched them, partly through fear of contagion, and partly out of +contempt. The first two were finally lowered, and then came the moment +Peter had dreaded; those other two had been stiff and stark enough, but +he wanted no prying eyes looking on when he lifted this one, and so +before he bent over to Richard, he glanced down the deck and raised his +hand, quite casually, it seemed, to his face. Instantly, as though he +had been on the watch for a signal, Jack Bangs started a funeral hymn, +loud and wailing. + +"Stop that devilish howling!" roared the warden, wheeling around. + +Quick as a flash Peter, signing to his assistant, lifted the prostrate +figure at his feet and swung it over the side. The ropes grated on the +rail, and when the warden looked again, it was all over. Peter slid +instantly down one of the ropes, and he and his fellow grave-digger +untied the cords from the body and rolled it over beside the other two +in the bottom of the boat, the guards having their hands full to keep +the little craft from swamping in the waves. Then they cast off and +pulled for the shore. + +"What makes you look at that carrion so confoundedly straight and +scared," one of the soldiers asked Peter, sharply, noticing how often +his eyes went to the figure at his feet. + +Peter cursed himself inwardly, but he had been so afraid that the +blanket would rise and fall with a strong man's involuntary breathing +that he had watched it in a sort of fascination. Now he looked away, +answering slowly:-- + +"I have known him since he was a baby; he used to play with my little +boy that died, and so I keep thinking of those days." + +One of the men laughed scoutingly, but the other growled out, "Let the +fool have his fling, and give me a light, Carson; my pipe's gone out in +this cursed spray." And while their heads were close together, Peter +stretched his legs out over the body, that if so it lost for a moment +its rigidity, they might not see. + +It seemed to him an hour before the shore was reached and the landing +effected; then he and his assistant carried the bodies high up on the +sand. Richard's went first. + +"He is alive," Peter whispered, as they moved up the beach, "but if you +give the faintest hint of it here or on shipboard by word, act, or look, +I'll throttle you like a viper." + +"You need not threaten--I'm no peacher; and besides, I liked the lad, +and wish him well; but his chance is slim, and if he is taken, they will +torture him like the incarnate fiends." + +An officer from the patrol, strolling near the boat, called out:-- + +"How many to-day, Carson?" + +"Three." + +"That is an unusual haul; you are thinning them out fast." + +"Not half fast enough; looks as if the cursed dogs held on to life to +spite us." + +"Well, 'tis said that Howe will bring back plenty of recruits from the +French fleet to fill your gaps." + +"How is that? What is the news?" + +But Peter was listening eagerly, hoping to catch some bit of outside +information. The officer pointed to him with elevated eyebrows, and the +guard drove him with imprecations to his task. + +"Your shovel?--Well, there it is, you son of perdition! Go on, and mind +you be quick in hiding that carrion from the crows." + +Beside the boat, with guns cocked and ready, the three men then +talked over the war tidings, while thirty yards up the beach the two +grave-diggers fell to their task. Rapidly the two first graves were made +and the occupants laid therein with only a muttered prayer from Peter; +and so were closed two human chapters in the varying story of life. The +wind shrieked in from the sea, edged with foam or stinging sand caught +up at the water's edge, and the heavens were like a vast slaty canopy +torn now and then by jagged lightning flashes. The scene was a fit +setting for the mournful work in hand. Once or twice while the two +laboured, one of the guards walked over to look at them, and then +wandered back to the boat and his companions. + +Over the first two graves the sand was heaped high, forming, as far as +possible, a barrier for the third. Shallow that third grave was,--so +shallow that a man could scarce lie therein and be concealed; but so +it must be that the sand might not be too heavy on the body, and yet +seem to be piled up. Tenderly Peter lifted that last silent figure and +stretched it in the hollow made for it; then, while he still stooped, +he broke the frail stitches of the blanket, and snatching two pieces +of driftwood he put them crosswise over the head of the grave with their +ends on the edges. The hollow space below might contain enough air to +last a man a little while. + +"Stay, here is piece of hollow cane in the sand," said the assistant, +"keep one end of it over your mouth, Richard; we will leave the other +just out of the sand; in this way you can breathe longer.--So." + +"Quick, quick; the shovels! The guard is returning," cried Peter. + +It seemed to them that their shovels crawled, and yet they worked like +mad. If the guard got there before they finished, all was lost. Spadeful +after spadeful,--was ever a man so hard to cover? Another step and the +sentinel would be upon them, and the blanket scarcely hidden, and those +tell-tale boards and the cane yet in sight. It was a fearful moment. +Peter's heart stood still, and his comrade's hands were like ice. + +"What the devil are you so long about?" + +But it was only the angry voice that reached them; a blinding lightning +flash ripped the heavens wide open, and the wind with a demoniacal +shriek rushed down the beach, throwing the sand in a swirling cloud +about the on-coming man, making him stagger with its force and snatching +away his hat and rain coat. Half blinded, he raced down the sloping +stretch to regain his garments which more than once eluded him. Then in +the lull he came back swearing furiously; and finding the men leaning on +their shovels, he stuck his bayonet into each of the three mounds. Into +the third it penetrated only a little way; but he did not notice, for +the wind was again gathering itself for a fresh burst of fury. + +"Now then, get you to the boats!" he cried, standing behind them. + +Peter paused a moment and crossed himself reverently, saying in a loud +voice, "Your bodies to the earth, your souls to God's care; and may you +pass to liberty in the folds of the in-rolling fog." + +"Pass to hell and the devil! Get on, I say!" cried the guard, angrily, +as he struck Peter across the shoulders with his bayonet. And Peter, +having said his say, ran nimbly to the boat; and pushing it off, they +leaped in, and were soon toiling amid the breakers to reach the ship's +side. + +It seemed to Richard that long months passed while he lay motionless +under that weight of sand, breathing spasmodically through the bit of +reed. The drift-boards kept the pressure partially from his chest so +that he suffered very little. The guard's bayonet had grazed his leg +without piercing it, but the thirst in his throat was something +terrible. Peter's voice had penetrated through the boards and their thin +covering of sand, so that he knew the fog was following the wind from +the sea. It was for this he had hoped, and it was this Peter meant to +tell him in those last words. Dear old Peter; how he had tried to +dissuade him from this mad plan, and when that was impossible, how he +had risked his own safety to aid him. Richard felt the tears on his face +as he recalled his friend's unselfish offices. Several times during the +wait for a stormy day he had been on the point of giving up the whole +plan, lest it work a mischief for Peter; but the latter had said it +would mean only a day in irons for him, and that he was willing to risk +that much for his friend's liberty; it was for Richard himself that he +feared. But even death had a smiling face for Richard, compared to a +winter spent in the vile ship; and so the plan had gone on, and by +Peter's care he was lying here in his grave, accounted of the world as +dead. + +By and by his limbs began to cramp and ache. Through strong will power +he had kept them rigid during those terrible moments of examination and +removal from the ship. He would not have dared assay the plan had he not +known how superficial, through repetition, had become the warden's +inspection of the corpses--just a few questions and that savage kick. +Each time there had been a death during the past fortnight, he had +studied the details of the preparation and burial, until he was +convinced that he could carry his scheme to a successful close if only +Peter was allowed to be one of his sextons. + +As the minutes now passed, the ache in his limbs increased, for the +pressure of the sand was stopping the circulation. Then the dryness in +his throat grew and grew, until he could bear it no longer. Had he lain +there a year, or only a day? Slowly and cautiously he drew his hands up +to his breast, then higher, and finally placed the palms against the +board over his head. The first movement brought the sand in a shower +upon his shoulders; but after a while he worked it far enough back to +leave a crack between it and its fellow. This he could only feel, for +knowing the sand would strangle and blind him, he had not as yet taken +the blanket from his face, since moving it ever so little to receive the +reed into his mouth. Next, he slowly pushed the other board downward +until a rush of cold air told him he was once more in the world of +humanity, not forever sealed in the haunt of ghouls. Cautiously he +shoved the blanket from his face and looked up into the storm-hung +heavens. It was mid-afternoon, and he had thought it must be midnight. +Eagerly he drew in the air, cool and laden with moisture, and tried to +forget his aching limbs. He dared not stir yet lest the patrol should +see him. He must wait; and while he waited, how the moments lagged! + +The wind had fallen, but the waves still thundered on the shore, and the +lightning now and then raced along the clouds. Afraid to raise his head, +he could only lie still and stare straight above him into the square of +mist and clouds. With a great throb of joy he watched the gloom deepen. +He had not heard the sunset gun from the station down the beach, but the +fog would befriend him; so when he could no longer bear the straitened +position, he lifted his head and shoulders and looked around. The fog +was everywhere; scarcely could he see the tumultuous waves that +shattered themselves along the sand. He need wait no longer, no one +could see him now; and painfully and carefully he finally drew his +stiff limbs from under the sand. To stand at full length was not to be +thought of, but he rolled over and rubbed and stretched himself until +the cramp was relieved. Then he set himself to fill in and round up his +vacated grave; for Peter's sake he must do this, that no suspicion might +be aroused when the funeral boat brought its next cargo ashore. Swiftly +he worked, using a piece of the drift-board for a shovel, and crawling +from head to foot to be sure that all was right. His heart was full of +gratitude when at last it was finished, and, with a sigh of relief, he +threw the board aside and stood up straight,--a free man. + +But at this moment something came out of the fog from the shore side, +and as he steadied himself upon his feet, he found himself face to face +with a man. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +OUT OF THE SHADOW AND INTO THE SUN. + + "O God, it is a fearful thing + To see the human soul take wing + In any shape, in any mood." + --BYRON. + + +For one awful minute neither man moved; then the patrol, with the horror +in his face as of one who looks upon a thing of another world, gave a +hoarse scream which was swallowed up in the roar of the sea. Richard +did not know what an uncanny sight he made rising up from that grave +with his hair unkempt, his face like ashes, and a burial cloth still +bound about his jaws. He comprehended only that detection threatened, +and detection meant death. With one bound he cleared the grave between +them, and grappled with the guard. Under other circumstances he +would have been no match for the man, starved and weak as he was; but +desperation--that fierce, mad desire to live--gave him strength. It +was not so much he as that aroused demon within him that gave back the +patrol's blows, struck the gun from his hands, and finally gripped him +about the throat. Not a word was said, not a cry was uttered, as they +tossed and swayed backward and forward, to the right or left, sank on +one knee and rose again to stagger and struggle anew. If Richard could +keep that strangling hold, the fight was his, and with it the liberty +for which he longed; if the other man could break it, then life would +pay the forfeit. Doggedly he hung on, though his fingers strained and +his head reeled, while the other beat him about the body and shoulders +with blows that began to lose their force, for that iron grip upon his +windpipe was telling at last. Richard was literally choking the life +out of him. Backward he went--backward--until the muscles in his chest +swelled, and the joints of his back and shoulders cracked--still +backward, with everything dark before him. Then suddenly his knees +collapsed, and he went down to the sand in a shapeless huddle. But even +then Richard did not let go his hold; deeper, and yet deeper his fingers +sank into the flesh under them, until not a quiver was left in the +insensible limbs. Then finally he stood up and looked upon his work. + +God! he had committed murder. + +[Illustration: "FOR A LONG MINUTE HE STOOD THERE, TREMBLING, +HORROR-STRICKEN."] + +For a long minute he stood there, trembling, horror-stricken; then the +self within him cried out, and he roused up to thought and action. That +dead body would tell its own disastrous tale when the relief watch came; +should he bury it here in his own grave? Yes, that cheated sepulchre +should have its inmate; and he reached for the board. But no; there +would not be time; it would take hours to hide it, trembling and weak +as he was, something else must be done, something quick. Should he run +for the dunes and leave it where it lay? If found thus, search would be +made for the slayer; he would be setting the watch upon his own track. +He pressed his hands helplessly to his temples, staring meanwhile upon +the horror there at his feet. Then suddenly the explanation came: the +man's beat ended on a rock that dropped sharply into the water; he knew, +for he had noticed when he came ashore before with the funeral boat. +If he could throw the body down there, it would be thought the man had +walked off in the fog and gloom; no suspicion would be aroused, and he +would be free from pursuit. + +Shivering at the contact, he seized the body and dragged it along over +the shells and pebbles. Once or twice he lost his bearings in the short +journey, but a rising wind blew out trailing lengths of fog before him +and, aided thus, in a little while he reached his goal. But he could not +see the body enter the water; it would be like a second murder, and so +with eyes close shut he pushed it off and groaned in his soul to hear +the splash that came from below. + +"God bear witness that I did not want his blood upon my hands!" + +Then he looked away to the dunes and took one step toward them. But the +gun--it lay yonder by the graves; he might as well have left the body +itself there. Hastily he returned, smoothed over the sand where the +struggle had fallen, and seizing the man's gun and hat, he sped again to +the rock, placing them near the ledge, that they might seem to have been +dropped there in an attempt at self-preservation. Then he was free to +go. Into the fog he plunged, making for where the sand-dunes rose; and +as he tottered down into the underbrush beyond, he heard the sunset gun +from the station boom out through the mist. He had lived a whole +lifetime in the last half hour. + +It had been his plan to cross the island and seek some means of escaping +to the Jersey coast from the south-side villages, but the fog hid +everything, and he seemed walking in a circle. He was weak from +excitement and lack of food, and after stumbling blindly onward for a +while, he turned to the left and kept on a parallel with the coast, the +boom of the surf being his guide; but always he kept the sound far +enough away to avoid the sentinels from the patrol. The fog had turned +into a rain, cold and depressing, and so after walking an hour or two he +was willing to risk something of danger for food and rest. He had passed +several houses but had kept aloof through fear; now, however, he bent +his steps to a tiny light burning ahead. + +It was a fisherman's cottage close to an inlet that jutted in from the +bay, and as good fortune would have it the old man, detained by the +storm, was just getting home. Even in the little harbour the swell was +unusually strong, and the man was having much difficulty in beaching his +boat, so that Richard's aid was most timely. + +"Who are you, my friend?" the fisherman asked, when everything was snug +and taut. + +"A traveller who has lost his way." + +The old fellow squinted his eyes for a closer look. "A traveller? Well, +'tis enough; we never ask names, my old woman and I, for in such days as +these a man's name is ofttimes his most secret possession. We know not +the rights of this war, and so we take no sides, but pray that justice +may conquer. Now, how can I pay you for your help?" + +"By giving me food and shelter." + +"That will I, for without you I should have lost my whole day's take and +that had been a terrible mishap. Fry an extra fish, mother," he called +into the cottage. + +"Ay, two of them, good mother. I pray you; for I am as a ravening wolf +seeking what I may devour," Richard said, putting his head in at the +door; and his voice was so bonny that the old woman filled the skillet +with a lavish hand. And in that firelit hut he ate the first palatable +meal he had had since Monmouth day. Then he set himself artfully to +persuade the fisherman to take him down the Sound in his boat. + +"Nay, I never go now, the journey is too much for me; and besides I must +go to-morrow to the camp to sell my fish. But the soldiers go and come +between here and New York every day; if you will come with me to the +camp, I will get you company." + +But Richard evaded the invitation. After a while the old woman said: +"There is Dame Grant who lives just over the inlet, she goes down the +Sound day after to-morrow to see her people,--she hath recently heard +that her niece hath a new baby (a fine girl weighing ten pounds in its +skin and to be named for the dame), mayhap you could find passage with +her." + +But again Richard shook his head, shuddering inwardly at the thought +that the old woman might recognize him and be tempted by the standing +reward for escaped prisoners to give him again into captivity. He would +find some other way, he said, and talked of the fishing in the Sound. +When the old man's pipe was smoked out they went to bed, and in spite of +that haunting scene beside the wind-swept graves, Richard slept +profoundly through the night hours. Waking before the old couple in the +gray morning, he crept down from the loft, and raking together the coals +upon the hearth, he breakfasted on the remains of last night's supper, +then stole out into the wet and sombre world. + +How sweet it was to breathe the early air and feel the earth beneath his +feet, and have the weeds and underbrush rap him about the knees as he +pushed away to the interior! The fisherman's hut was a league behind him +when he saw the east redden with the rising sun, for the besom of the +storm had swept the heavens clear. What a wonderful light threaded the +woods and glorified the tree-tops, sparkling and changing with every +motion of the boughs! Often he had seen it among his native Carolina +hills, this opaline opening of the morn, but never before with such a +thrill of appreciation, such a rush of exquisite joy. + +"Good morning, Joscelyn; I am a free man to-day." And he bowed as though +he had been in a ball-room, and picking a bit of blossom that nodded at +him, he stuck it jauntily in his ragged coat. + +If it had not been for that dead face playing hide-and-seek always among +the bushes about him, he could have whistled as he walked. Now and then +he sighted houses and cultivated fields, but he kept to the woods; not +until he reached the sea on the other side of the island would he +venture to show his face at a door. There were wild grapes in the +thickets and sweet beach mass to eat; and a little past noon he found a +late melon in the weeds of a fence corner, and feasted like a lord. + +But half a mile farther on, his pleasure was forgotten in a keen +excitement, for from a slight eminence, he saw the plain stretching to +the right and left white with the tents of soldiery; and not ten paces +from him a sentinel, with his back this way, sat on a fallen tree and +read a letter. A few more steps, and he would have been in the hornets' +nest,--a helpless captive. Instantly he dropped upon his knees, and +crawled into the brush as stealthily as a creature of the jungle. He had +evidently come too far west in his flight, for this was a part of +Clinton's army, quartered here within easy reach of New York. Far away +to either side the tents reached, dotting the whole expanse of country. +To turn either wing looked like an impossibility; it would take him days +to skirt those picket posts to the east; and on the west, he knew from +what the fisherman had said that they must reach even to the hamlet +whence the boats went daily to New York. To take that route meant a sure +and swift destruction, since he would be thrusting himself into the very +toils he longed to avoid. His one chance seemed to be a retreat the way +he came, and then to beat his way to the northeast along the coast of +the Sound, and get over to the Connecticut side on some fishing-boat. He +would be weeks--perhaps months--longer in reaching Washington or home, +but better that a thousand times than certain capture. He reasoned it +all out carefully, lying under the thicket, and then lingered a few +minutes to envy the unconscious sentinel his letter, for of course it +was from home. How long it had been since he had heard aught of his +loved ones--three weary months! + +Downcast and disheartened, he returned along his own trail, and in the +early twilight heard the boom of the surf ahead of him. But he had +missed his way somewhat, and came out of the brush on the side of the +inlet across from the fisherman's hut. He found he would have to walk an +extra mile or two to get back to that shelter for the night. He sighed +and turned, but just at that moment there flashed upon his sight a light +from a window some fifty yards down the inlet, and on the same side with +himself. + +Stay; this was Dame Grant's hut, and she went to-morrow to the Jersey +shore to visit her kin. + +He did not go back around the head of the cove, but turned instead into +the field before this other hut, whose friendly light was winking at him +through the dusk. His resolution was taken, for good or ill. + +Evidently the dame had company, for there was the sound of voices and +laughter on the water front of the little house; and Richard stood still +with a tingling sense of pleasure,--it had been so long since he had +heard people laugh joyously and heartily, that the sound came like the +echo of something loved but almost forgotten. Between a hayrick and the +fence he finally lay down to wait; and while he waited he slept, for +when he awoke the hut was silent, although the light still burned at the +window. The chill of autumn was in the air, and he shivered as he +crossed the enclosure and stood looking into the lighted room. It was a +pleasant scene: the two boys slept upon a wooden bench, but the dame sat +by the table, busy with a piece of bright-hued patchwork, and Richard +took heart of grace that she smiled as she sewed. From his ragged +boot-leg he had taken Colborn's gold piece, and now he used it to tap +lightly on the small, diamond-shaped pane. The dame looked up in +surprise to see a hatless man at her window; but he smiled cheerily and +beckoned, holding the gold piece against the glass that she might see +it. For a moment she looked at him frowningly, then the glitter of the +gold won her, and she got up and opened the door. + +"What want you at this hour of the night at an honest woman's house?" + +"I want an honest conversation with an honest woman, therefore came I to +your door, knowing where to find both. In all true faith and respect I +am here; so come, good mother, ask me in. Without your bidding I will +not enter, for I would not wilfully intrude upon the privacy of a lady." +He bowed low, clicking his heels as neatly as though he were her partner +in a minuet. + +"Go along with your fine ways," she said, but she laughed. + +"No ways can be too fine for a lady." And he took her hand and kissed it +with the air of a prince, clicking his heels again in that military +salute. + +"You young impudence! leave go my hand--you'll find it heavy enough on +your ear presently. I'll warrant you have it in mind to fleece me out of +something, so say your say and be done with it," but there was no real +anger in her voice. + +"Nay, I am no highwayman nor money beggar; for that which you do for me +I will pay you well," he answered, again holding up the gold piece. "But +would you not be more comfortable sitting?" He waved his hand toward the +chair she had quitted, and the fine courtesy of his tone again called +forth her laugh; but she took the hint and, turning, bade him enter. + +"Well, where do we begin?" she said, when they were seated. + +"My mother always begins by asking a stranger to have something to +eat--and you have bonny blue eyes like hers," he answered, with boyish +audacity, pushing back her loose sleeve and patting the fat arm. + +"'Tis a good place to start," she answered, shoving him off; and would +have called the boys to serve him, but he held her back. + +"I wish no one but you to hear what I have to say. You may trust me--I +swear it." So she opened the cupboard herself and brought out plenty of +cold food. Richard ate ravenously, praising everything (for in truth it +had a heavenly taste), and telling her how blue her eyes were, and how +pretty her patchwork--just like what his own mother used to make. + +"A bit of a quilt for a bairn just born," she said, and smoothed it with +her great hands. + +And Richard asked the child's name, and said it had a sweet sound, and +hoped it would have blue eyes with a twinkle in them like her own. And +while he ate and talked she watched him narrowly. He knew it, but he did +not care. Presently she said, as one asserting a fact:-- + +"You are from one of the prison-ships." + +He nodded, smiling; and his frankness evidently pleased her, for she +nodded back. "That's right; no use to lie about it. I knew I had seen +your face somewhere. How did you get away?" + +"That is the one thing I cannot tell you, good mother, for it would +implicate the man who helped me, and not even for your favour--though +God knows I want it bad enough--will I betray my friend." + +"Right again; hold fast to the man who holds to you; I like to see folk +grateful." + +Then he told her how he wanted to go in her boat to the Jersey shore, +and how it was he happened to know her plans. But she shook her head; +the risk was too great. + +"There will be no risk at all. You are so well known to the soldiers at +the different posts that you will never be questioned. It would be but +natural for you to take some one stronger than your boys to help you in +making so long a voyage. Find me but a coat and hat, and no one will +give me a thought, for I know how to hold my tongue when occasion +calls." + +But still she refused. Her passport called but for three, and she was +not going to run her head into a noose for all his fine speeches and +petting ways--for he had squeezed her hand and patted her gray hair +while he talked. + +He would not listen to her refusal; if she did not take him, he was +lost. And he got hold of her other hand, and in pathetic words described +to her the agony he had suffered on the vessel; and then he dropped his +head on the table and almost sobbed as he told her of Joscelyn and his +yearning to see her. + +"Oho, a sweetheart, is it?" asked the old woman, with aroused interest. + +"Yes, as bonny a girl as you ever set eyes upon. And think you, +good dame, of your own young days, of the time when the lads were +at your beck and call,--for I warrant me those blue eyes broke many +hearts,--would you not have been grateful if your lover had been in +peril and some one had saved him for you?" + +The dame chuckled. "Ay, ay, I had my fling with the lads, I did." + +"It goes without the saying. And there was one among them whom you +loved?" The brown face grew suddenly very tender as with the shadow of a +memory. "Then for the sake of him save Joscelyn's sweetheart for her." + +But still she shook her head, and for a minute Richard was in despair. +Then he began all over again, adding the gold piece to his argument. +Thus for half an hour the plea went on, and just as he felt that he had +failed, she suddenly nodded her head decisively, that softened light +again shining in her face. + +"One of the boys shall bide at home, and you may go in his stead, since +you are so set on it; but mind, you help with the boat, and I have the +gold." + +"That and Joscelyn's love shall be yours, you dear, bonny dame!" he +cried rapturously, seizing her about the shoulders and kissing her +heartily on either red cheek. + +"Get out! Of all the lads I ever saw, you have the freest manners." +But the shove she gave him had in it no roughness. He had set her to +thinking of her own youth and of a lad who had gone to sea one morning, +kissing his hand to her, but had never come home again, though she had +waited for him for many a day through shine of sun and wail of storm. +Through all her life a woman's first love is a touchstone to her +sympathy, an open sesame to her tenderness; neither as maid, nor yet as +wife, does she ever quite forget that first sweet spell upon her heart. +Dame Grant scarcely saw the man beside her, but for sake of that other +lad, whom nobody had been able to help far back in the years that were +dead, she would save this other girl's lover. + +In an hour their preparations were made. From the loft of her hut the +dame brought down a leather jerkin and a battered hat, and after her +scissors had gone over Richard's head, he was metamorphosed so that +even she herself would scarcely have recognized him. + +"You'd be a fine figure of a man if those wretches on the ship had not +starved the shape out of you." + +"My mother always said that in the way of beauty Providence had done +more for my legs than for my face," Richard laughed. + +"Well, the warden hath undone the job, for thy breeches hang like a +scarecrow's. Now up into the loft with you, and find some straw whereon +to sleep. 'Tis close upon midnight, and we start with the sun." + +But Richard was too full of joy and excitement to sleep much, and so +when the dame and her boys came out the next morning, they found him +sitting beside the boat, pulling on his boots after a plunge into the +cold salt water. The feeling in his breast was indescribable when at +last, after many injunctions to the boy who was left, they drew out of +the cove into the open bay, in the pearl and purple morning, and he knew +his journey was begun. + +They went somewhat out of their way that Dame Grant might leave some +parcels at the patrol station, their course taking them within a hundred +yards of the three prison-ships rocking in the bay. At first Richard +turned his eyes away with a sickening sense of pain and rage, then +looked eagerly to see if he might recognize Peter on the deck. Yes, +there he was, near the stern; Richard knew him from his height and from +the cap he wore, and he had to hold his teeth clenched to keep from +crying out to him. How dismal and condemned the three hulks looked, +despite the transfiguring touch of the morning! And over there on the +strand was his grave, the spot to which his mother's thoughts would make +many a sorrowful pilgrimage if so the news of his death should outrun +him to the Carolina hills. + +At the station one of the guards remarked on the fact that the dame had +a new hand aboard. + +"Yes; Henry's stomach's apt to go back on him in rough weather, and at +this season o' the year we are like to get into a blow any time, so I +left him and brought a stronger man. It turns my blood to see Henry +heaving and gagging when he ought to be shortening sail." + +"Well, yon fellow hasn't much the look of a sailor," said the man, eying +Richard suspiciously as he was making awkward attempts to pull in a +flapping sail. + +"Oh, he isn't showing off, but he suits me well enough," the dame +answered, with a warning side look at Richard, who instantly gave better +heed to his task. Nothing but her coolness saved him, for the guard's +word, coming so suddenly, had made him go very white. + +Then a paean of praise went singing itself through his heart, for the +parcels were delivered, and pushing off from shore the boat sailed out +of the bay and turned her nose to the west. Down the narrow waterway +between Long Island and the city of New York they sailed all the +morning, stopping here and there at signals from patrol stations to +show their passports. But at none of these places were they detained +very long, for Dame Grant had looked carefully to such matters, and so +noon found them in a wide bay to the south of the city. No misfortune +had befallen Richard, for he had kept a still tongue at every stopping +place. In the afternoon the breeze quickened, and they went racing away +before it toward the ever growing shore-line ahead, and in the gloaming +they landed at a little hamlet on the Jersey side of the bay. + +High up on the beach the boat was pulled and tied to a stake, and then +while the boy was gaping about him, Richard went back to the boat side +and took the dame's big hand in his:-- + +"You have kept your contract, and the gold is yours; God bless you for a +good, true woman!" he said, leaving the coin in her palm. + +But she thrust it back vigorously: "Nay, I will none of it; I but put it +in the bargain to test you. You have paid me twofold by your labour and +your good gratitude. Tell your Joscelyn that I send you to her as a +gift, and bid her use you well." + +Nothing could prevail upon her to touch the coin, and so at last Richard +turned away. + +"Hist!" she said, holding him a moment, "'tis said there is a +Continental force near Brunswick; keep to the southwest." + +"Thank you, and God keep you!" And the gathering shadows swallowed him +up. + +At that very moment, on board the prison-ship _Good Hope_, Eustace +Singleton was listening to the story of his death from the obsequious +warden, and wondering how he was to write it to Betty. + +And far away in Hillsboro' Joscelyn and Betty were going slowly home in +bitter disappointment, after seeing the post-rider distribute his few +letters, and finding there was nothing for them. How many and how long +had been the weeks since they wrote to Eustace; for then it was +summer-time, and now the red and ochre tints of the autumn flamed in the +woodlands. And still Betty cried, and still Joscelyn counselled +patience. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +"KISS ME QUICK AND LET ME GO." + + "And to his eye + There was but one beloved face on earth, + And that was shining on him." + + +It was a windy day in late November, one of those rare days when summer, +repenting of her desertion, steals softly back to comfort the earth with +a parting smile. Out in the brown fields the birds pruned their wings in +the sun and sang a few notes softly, as a singer who recalls fitfully +and doubtfully a long forgotten tune; the golden daisies by the door +still burnt like stars late fallen from the far firmament; a revivified +butterfly hovered languidly over the faded aster beds, and venturesome +wasps sallied from their castles under the eaves and buzzed droningly +against the window panes. It was a day of shifting shadows, of subtle +changes and soft surprises. + +Joscelyn and Betty sat over their embroidery frames in the latter's +parlour, talking over the events of the past two months--the long wait +between their letter to Eustace and his sorrowful reply; the grief that +clouded the two houses for four days following, before they knew that +Richard had escaped and was not dead, and the intense relief and joy +his short message had brought them. + +"It was like a hundred candles suddenly brought into a dark room," Betty +said, snipping off her thread. "But do you know, Joscelyn, that you +acted so queerly, scolding because you had cried so much, and cocking +your head before the mirror to count the wrinkles your grieving had +made,--though for the life of me I could never see one of them,--that I +half believed you were angry that Richard had not died in truth." + +"You give me credit for much feeling, I am sure," quizzed Joscelyn. "But +in sooth, Betty, when a woman gets circles under her eyes, and crow's +feet at the corners of her mouth, and a dismal whine to her voice +through over-much sighing, she likes to know it has not been all in +vain. Wasted grief is like wasted sweets--useless." + +"I would to heaven all grief were useless and in vain." + +Joscelyn shook her head. "That would not do; for without grief there +would be no pity, and without pity there would be no love, and life +without love were not worth the living." + +"Love? What do you know of love?" Betty asked, looking up quickly. + +"You vain little minx! do you think Cupid wasted all his arrows on you +and Eustace?" + +"N-o; but Joscelyn--" + +"'But, Joscelyn,'" mimicked the other, still laughing; "from the doubt +in your voice one would think you were own daughter to that biblical +Thomas whose faith was so small. Trust me, Cupid has saved a shaft in +his quiver for me." + +"You are such a queer girl, Joscelyn; one never knows how to take you. +You sorrowed for Richard so vehemently at first--do you--can you mean +that you care just a little for him?" + +"My dear, I was much more in love with Richard dead than I am ever like +to be with Richard alive. You see, Death is not unlike charity: it +covers a multitude of faults." + +"You heartless creature!" + +And Betty got up and took her frame to another window. But she could +never stay angry long, partly because of her gentle disposition, and +partly because she knew that much of Joscelyn's seeming heartlessness +was in truth but mischievous banter; and so their heads were close +together again very soon, while their needles wrought silken poppies or +blue-eyed violets into the meshes of canvas on their frames. + +And while they thus talked and sewed, a horseman came galloping down the +streets. A great commotion followed in his wake; for he rode with a free +rein and so rapidly withal that his horse's hoofs struck sparks from the +loose stones of the street. Straight to Mistress Clevering's door he +went, and springing down stayed not to knock or parley, but entering +without ceremony and meeting the astonished lady in the hall, hugged +her with a will. + +"Why--it is--Richard--Richard!" + +Her voice was half choked with giving back his kisses, but it reached +the two girls in the parlour who, startled at first into silence, threw +down their needles and rushed headlong into the hall, and, before they +realized it, were kissed by the newcomer in a rapturous greeting. + +Joscelyn's cheek burnt scarlet under his lips, but so glad was she to +see him safe after all their anxiety that she submitted without protest. +In faith, it was over so quickly, there had been no time for resistance. +Devouring her with his eyes, he tried to retain her hand when the +greeting was over, but after a moment she slipped it, not unkindly, from +his grasp, and presently when he had told them briefly of his marvellous +escape, she ran over to give her mother the news and to see if there was +not a piece of his favourite cake in the cupboard. A warm tingle was in +her veins, and she put her hand up to the cheek he had kissed. How +pleasant it was to hear his voice in the house. If he would only leave +the war alone, and--and quit making love to her, she would be so fond of +him; they used to be excellent comrades before these two things came +between them. + +Thinking thus, she put a napkin over the cake and turned to leave the +pantry; but Richard, under pretext of speaking to her mother, had +followed her, and now stood in the door barring her exit. + +"Joscelyn, how good it is to see you again! Have you thought of me?" + +"'Twould have been impossible not to think of you with nothing else +being talked of in the house these two months past." + +"But have you missed me?" + +"Why, we miss anything to which we have been accustomed." + +"And you sorrowed for me?" + +"Truly, Richard, I should be a most hard-hearted girl not to sorrow over +such suffering as has been yours." + +"God bless you!" He was so full of joy over the meeting that he did not +notice the lack of love-warmth in her voice, but when he would have put +his arm about her, she pushed him off with quiet decision. + +"Nay, Richard, do not begin that. You told your mother just now that you +had but three hours to stay with us; let us not waste a single moment of +the time in a useless love-making." + +"But you kissed me for greeting." + +"Nay, sir, 'twas you kissed me," she said, with a shimmer of laughter +over her face like sunlight upon dancing water. + +"Listen, sweetheart," he said, coming very close to her, his head +swimming with the soft intoxication of her presence; "we may have but +these few minutes together, but I want you to know that it was the +thought of you that kept me alive in that vile prison and finally nerved +me to escape. But for you,--for the fierce longing to see you, to touch +you,--I should have stayed there and died like a rat." + +"Eustace did all he could," she broke in, "but our letter was long in +reaching him, for General Clinton had sent him to help repel the attack +on Rhode Island, and he did not return to New York for more than a +month." + +"I know, and some day I shall thank him; but he could not have effected +my release or exchange, only bought a little favour from my hard +jailers, and I cared not for that kind of obligation from one of his +name. It was you--the memory of your dear face--that steeled my nerves +and broke my bonds. There is a species of numbing despair that comes +upon a man sometimes over which a great love alone can triumph." + +She put her hand upon his arm, for there was a pathos in his voice that +touched her deeply; "Richard, I wish I loved you." + +"And so you shall, and do," he cried; and instantly the tender spell +upon her was broken, for in his tone and manner was the old arrogance +and sureness that she so much resented. He felt the change, and said +pleadingly, "The fisherwoman who rescued me said at parting, 'Tell your +Joscelyn to use you well.' Are you so soon forgetting her injunction?" + +"Nay; she was a good woman, and I shall pray for her." + +"Love me instead--'twill be truer gratitude." + +But his mother and Mistress Cheshire were in the hall, and so for answer +Joscelyn pushed him through the door; and he went out to the older +women, munching a bit of sweet cake like a boy. + +By this time the neighbours were all collected about the door, eager to +hear of absent sons and husbands; and he went out to them and answered +questions, and took messages and told anew the story of his escape, but +with such omissions of names as to throw no suspicion on Dame Grant, if +so the story found its way back to the north. + +"And in writing to Peter," he said to Patience and her mother, who were +grief stricken at his story, "say only that Dick Clevering told you +where he was; he will understand, and anything else might arouse the +warden's suspicions and bring punishment upon him." + +He thought they would never have done with their inquiries and their +bemoanings, so short was his time and so eager was he for one more word +with Joscelyn. At last he said:-- + +"And now, my friends, I will carry as many letters as my pockets can +hold, but they must be writ in short shift, for in an hour I go on my +journey and shall not return this way when once I set my face +northward." + +And so they went away,--some to prepare their missives, others out of +delicacy, feeling his own people must have him to themselves. + +"Tell us all about your journey's purpose, Richard," said Betty. + +"No, sister; a soldier's mission is not his property. Suffice it +for you to know that another man, Dunn by name, and I go through the +Carolinas, perhaps so far south as Savannah, on business for the +commander-in-chief. He cannot weaken his present force by detaching any +number of men to aid the southerners, but he wants to put them on their +guard against the force Clinton is sending by sea from New York; and +also to learn accurately the strength of the cause in these parts." + +"And where is Master Dunn?" + +"He stopped for a few hours over the Virginia line to see his wife, and +I rode the livelong night that I might have this glimpse of you. +Methinks I should almost have deserted to come back for a look at you +all, had I not persuaded Dunn to choose me on this expedition." + +"And where are you to meet him?" + +"At Charlotte, three days hence." + +"When Eustace--when Master Singleton,"--Betty corrected herself, with a +vivid blush, "wrote, saying you were dead, mother and I were like to go +crazy with grief. He wrote it kindly, but for two days mother did not +leave her bed." + +"And what did Joscelyn say?" + +"Oh, Joscelyn cried till her eyes were all red and puffed, and reminded +us how you and she used to ride and read and walk together without even +so much as a sharp word until the war talk came on. She did much to +comfort mother." + +"God bless her! But you were not long in suspense?" + +"No; but mother had already prepared to have a service in your memory, +and Janet and Patience had practised the hymns." + +"Well, there was at least a grave to sing over," laughed Richard; but +his mother was crying, even to think of those sad hours. + +"How thin you are!" she said, feeling his arms tenderly. + +"Well, mother, when a man has been in his grave, 'tis not to be expected +that he will look like one of the fatted kine. But I am plump as a rosy +Cupid compared with what I have been; and this reminds me that I am +hungry for some of your good cooking; do you and Betty get me up a bit +of dinner while I look to my horse." + +But he knew his horse had been cared for, and instead of the stable, it +was Joscelyn's door he sought. + +"I have but a little while left," he said; "come and sit with us, that I +may not lose sight of you for one of those blessed minutes. I am as a +thirsty man with the cup held ever out of his reach." + +"I thought you would wish to talk with your mother and sister alone." + +"There is nothing I tell them that I would not quite as willingly trust +to you; for though you are a Loyalist, yet you are loyal to your +friends," he said, smiling at his own pleasantry, and she laughed too. +Long afterward those words came back to him with a pang. + +As they crossed the street Mistress Strudwick hailed them from the +sidewalk. "Hey, there, Richard! you are keeping bad company and will +fall under suspicion, consorting with that young Tory," she cried. "Are +your despatches in the pocket next to her?--if so, beware!" + +"I have them in my heart, Mistress Strudwick." + +"Then in faith are they already Joscelyn's," laughed the old lady, +teasingly pinching the girl's cheek as the two came up to her. + +"Come, Mistress Strudwick, Richard wears not his heart on his sleeve." + +"But he pins it instead upon yours--which is quite as public. Ah, +Richard, she is a sad dare-devil!" and she went on to tell him of some +of the scenes of the past months. He had feared for her from the first, +and in his mother's parlour he caught her arm almost fiercely:-- + +"Are you mad that you jeopardize yourself in this way?" + +"Mistress Strudwick is over-alarmed; I can take care of myself," she +answered, a trifle hotly. + +But he was not satisfied; one word brought on another, and they were +nearly quarrelling when Betty came to say his dinner was ready. + +"Joscelyn," he whispered, with a sudden softening of manner as they went +down the hall, and he took her hand and laid in it a shining gold piece, +"this is all the gold I have in the world; it was to have paid the +price of my flight, but the fisherwoman would not have it. Keep it for +me till the war is done--I have a special purpose for it." + +After dinner the neighbours came with their letters and farewells, and +he had no further talk alone with Joscelyn. She bade him a very gentle +good-by, however, and ran across to her own balcony opposite, while he +comforted his mother and Betty and said farewell to the assembled +friends. When he was mounted and had waved them a last adieu, he made +his horse curvet as though loath to start, and so brought up close to +the rail of the opposite balcony. + +"Joscelyn, keep the gold piece safe and in some hallowed place, for when +the war is done it shall be made into our wedding ring--'tis for that I +saved it. Good-by, sweetheart." + +And then he was gone as he had come, with a free rein and a ringing hoof +beat; and the crowd behind broke into small groups to discuss the news +he had brought, while the girl leaning on the veranda across the way, +turned a shining coin in her hand, looking at it pensively, with a +curious light in her eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE WEARING OF A RED ROSE. + + "She gives thee a garland woven fair, + Take care! + It is a fool's-cap for thee to wear, + Beware! Beware! + Trust her not. + She's fooling thee!" + --LONGFELLOW. + + +The winter that followed was a quiet one in Hillsboro'. Joscelyn sewed +at the flaming poppies of her embroidery during the mornings, rode with +Betty or Mary Singleton over the commons in the afternoons when the snow +was not too deep, and in the evenings played cribbage with her mother or +sang to the sound of her spinet in the fire-lighted parlour. Now and +then news of the outside strife came over the mountains or out of the +far reaches to the north and east; but the red wave of war spent itself +before it reached the inland town. Washington was jealously watching the +British in New York, and in the south the fate of Charleston was rapidly +being sealed, while now and then a soldier, coming home on furlough or +sick leave, brought tidings of the partisan warfare, ceaselessly waged +through the Carolinas and Georgia by Sumter and Marion and other bold +leaders; but Hillsboro', upon the Eno, dozed through the long winter +months. + +"This war is worse than tiresome; it's perfectly hateful," Janet +Cameron said, twisting her yellow curls about her fingers and pouting +disconsolately; "it is making old maids of us whether the men wish it +or not. Here I am, eighteen this coming Whitsuntide, and not a genuine +suitor have I had." + +"Fie, Janet! Where is Billy Bryce?" asked Joscelyn, in whose room the +two sat. "Billy has loved you from your pinafore days." + +"That baby?" with a scornful accent. + +"You did not use to think him such a baby." + +"Perchance not; for he is a whole six months older than I, and that is a +mighty age!" + +"What manner of lover do you want now?" + +"Oh, a grown man--a big strong fellow with a will of his own, who never +asks for a kiss, but just takes it." + +"You little minx! what know you of kissing menfolk?" + +"Nothing--that is just it--" + +"Janet!" + +"--for when Billy blushes like a peony, and politely and decorously begs +to kiss my cheek, I am in duty bound to look shocked, and blush back, +and say no; nothing else would satisfy my dignity, though I could pinch +him for it! That is why I call him a baby," stoutly maintained the girl, +her lips curling, and her voice full of mockery. + +"He does not wish to forget his manners." + +"To say always 'if you please' for tender favours is not the manners for +a lover." + +"Since you are so wise, tell me what sort of manners a lover should +have." + +"Oh, you know without the telling! He ought to be headstrong and +masterful and a--a bold robber when it comes to claiming favours from +his lady; and full of mock repentance after the theft." + +"Well, when Billy comes from the war, I shall give him a hint as to how +to mend his behaviour." + +"An you did, I should hate you. Why, he does not even know how to write +to a girl. Here is a letter from him in which he sends his duty to his +mother--did you ever hear of such idiocy? A love-letter with a message +like that! A love letter should be private and confidential, filled full +of such sweetness that one pair of eyes alone should read it; and he +sends his duty to his mother, forsooth! Why, that prying old creature +would insist upon reading every line written here if I gave her the +message--and Heaven knows she might, and be none the wiser, for all of +sentiment there is in it is this last sentence, 'I would send you my +love, an I dared; but I would not for the world make you angry or hurt +your maidenly modesty.' Now that is a love-letter for you!" + +"Well, it is not deliriously passionate," admitted Joscelyn. + +"It is deliriously idiotic. I'd just have him understand that my modesty +is not quite so thin-skinned as he imagines." + +Joscelyn fell back in her chair, shrieking with laughter, while the +yellow-headed tempest before the glass shook her curls, and emphasized +her words with a scouting gesture, "Why, Joscelyn, if I were that boy's +great-grandmother, he could not treat me with more deferential respect." + +"I think it is beautiful in him." + +"Beautiful! Well, I think it is _imbecile_! Hurt my maidenly modesty, +indeed!--one would think my modesty were a sore toe to be stubbed or +trod upon. Stop laughing, Joscelyn Cheshire; you are as stupid as +Billy." And when Joscelyn answered with another silvery peal, Janet, in +high indignation, flung out of the room and down the steps, her heels +clattering as she went; and the next morning her maid carried the +offending letter to Mistress Bryce with a sweetly worded note, saying +Billy had no doubt made a mistake in the address of his missive. And +Billy swore his first oath when he heard of it. + +Nor was Janet the only one who came to confessional in Joscelyn's room. +It was there that Betty found the only outlet for her secret joy. In +spite of the war and its sad consequences, the year had been such a +happy one--the sweetest year she had ever known; for it had been full of +dreams and fancies, of thrills and hopes. Even the self-reproach, with +which she sometimes tormented herself because of her mother, had in it +a touch of sweetness since it was linked with her love. The whole world +was as a new place; the winter snows held an unthought of revelation of +beauty, and each flower that budded to the spring sunshine was a fresh +creation bearing on its petals an unspelled message of love. She would +not write to Eustace, for that would be undutiful to her mother; but +Joscelyn's letters were filled with tender messages for her, with now +and then a little wafered note that burnt her fingers with a delicious +sense of forbidden fruit, and which she read and re-read in the privacy +of her white-curtained room, trembling and flushing at the story they +told,--the future they painted. + +But as the spring advanced, a shade of sadness crept over her happiness, +a film like the impalpable dust that gathers on a fine picture hanging +always in the light. Eustace had ceased to write. Two months had gone +by, and no word had come from him. A strange, new fear was tugging at +Betty's heart. + +"Naught of evil has befallen him, or Mary would know; and you said they +had no tidings?" she asked wistfully one evening, as she leaned against +Joscelyn's window and watched the pale-petalled stars blossom through +the purple gloaming. + +"I rode all the way to the Singletons' yesterday afternoon on purpose to +ask, and they know nothing." + +"And his mother feels no uneasiness?" + +"None. She says Lord Cornwallis would immediately inform her if he +should be killed." + +Betty heaved a deep sigh; and then that latent fear came out, "I suppose +he finds the ladies of the city so beautiful and entertaining that he +has forgotten his--his friends here." + +"S-o! that is what makes you so long of face these days? Well, I do not +believe a word of it. Eustace is no jilt. You will find that you at +least are remembered, and that his silence is from reasonable cause." + +"His cousin, Ellen Singleton, is such a beautiful woman--you remember +Richard told us of her in his letter about the Philadelphia fete. Like +Mary, he said, only more lovely. They must of necessity be much +together, for she, too, is in New York." + +"And betrothed to Major Grant, you jealous child." + +"But that need really make no difference so far as Eustace's admiration +goes. Besides, there must be others as lovely." + +"Of course; but you are pretty, too, when your face is not long and your +eyes red with weeping." + +Betty went home comforted; and that night, when her mother made some +sharp remark about the Singleton household, she plucked up courage to +say it was scarcely fair to judge the whole family adversely because of +the father's shortcomings. And then, scared at her own temerity, she +ran away to her room, and cried out her trouble to that insensate and +inanimate confessor of wronged or sorrowing womanhood,--her pillow. + +A week later, Joscelyn, coming from the Singletons', tied a red ribbon +on her shutter as a sign that she had news; and Betty, hastening over, +soon learned of Clinton's long and tempestuous voyage from New York to +Charleston, whither he went to subdue that city. Eustace had been badly +hurt in the storm that wrecked so many of the transports, and had been +laid up in the hospital at Tybee Bay for weeks, while Clinton went on to +Charleston to begin the siege. + +So the British had come again to the south to teach the people of that +section their duty to their king, and the quiet that had reigned at +Hillsboro' was broken by the coming and going of recruiting parties, and +by the vacillating reports of victory or failure from the beleaguered +city. + +But it was not until August that the climax came. Then Gates, smarting +with the defeat at Camden, halted the remnant of his flying army, +scarcely a thousand strong, at the town on the Eno, to rest and sum up +the full measure of the disaster that had befallen him. During the short +time that he remained, the town was in a ferment. The way to the camp +was thronged with sympathizers; kitchen chimneys smoked with the extra +cooking, and in every house was a banquet of the best that could be had. +Only in the Cheshire house was there no preparation, nor yet upon the +door was there the blue and buff cockade that marked the others. There +were not lacking those who called official attention to this fact, and +so many comments and criticisms crept about among the soldiers that a +couple of young officers, bent on a frolic and thinking to teach this +wilful Joscelyn a needed lesson, stopped upon her porch and sent word +that they would speak with her. And presently she came down to them, +dressed fit to dance in a queen's minuet in silver brocade over a +scarlet petticoat, the round whiteness of her neck and arms shining +through foamy lace, a red rose in her powdered hair, and a black patch +near the corner of her mouth giving a saucy emphasis to her lips. As she +stepped out of the door, the young fellows who had been lounging on the +porch rail instantly sprang up and uncovered at the sight of so much +beauty and dignity. They had thought to find a country maid, mayhap a +woman past her youth; and instead, this glowing creature stood before +them. + +"What is your pleasure, gentlemen?" she asked; but the stiff courtesy of +her question was belied by the laugh in her eyes. + +They exchanged uneasy glances, and one took a step toward the porch +exit; but the other, who was to be spokesman, summing up resolution, +stammered and answered:-- + +"We found no cockade of the nation's colours on your door, and did but +stop to ask the reason." + +"Your general sent you?" + +"No, no; we were but passing, and came of our own accord." + +"Oh, a friendly visit, with no official significance? I pray you present +each other," and she courtesied at each name. "And now let us go into +the parlour and see what can be done for your entertainment." + +And in the parlour she gave them the best chairs, and set herself with +much graciousness of manner to entertain them, plying them with delicate +compliments, singing her Tory ballads with such laughing abandon that in +the same spirit of fun they applauded her, thinking not a moment of the +songs, but of the singer. Later on she brewed them a cup of tea, telling +them it was a love potion to win a fair one's favour; and although they +began by protesting vehemently, yet they ended by drinking it, for she +first put her own lips to the cups, and then dared them with her eyes. +After that they would scarcely have hesitated at hemlock. At the end of +an hour she dismissed them, each with a red rose in his coat. + +"The colour suits your handsome eyes," she said softly to one, with a +ravishing glance, as she fastened the flower in place. And to the other +she murmured, with downcast lids and a sweet similitude of faltering, +"This is for memory," as though for them both this hour was to be a +tryst for thought and tender recollection, and the rose its symbol. + +Neither of them had the wish nor the will to tear the flower away; and +so with a certain crestfallen exhilaration they took their leave, riding +slowly down the street, swearing each other to silence. But the story +got the rounds within the hour, for Mistress Strudwick, seeing them +enter the house and fearing some danger or annoyance to Joscelyn, had +followed quickly, and sat in the next room with the door ajar during the +entire interview. And she was not slow in publishing it abroad, so that +the young officers were twitted unmercifully at mess and headquarters; +even General Gates, when told of it, forgot for a moment the humiliation +of his late defeat, and laughed long and loud. Under the banter one of +the men threw his rose away; but the other held stoutly to his, meeting +the raillery with the assertion that it was a lady's favour and not a +king's colour that he wore. + +"It was not kindly of you to take such mean advantage of them, Joscelyn, +seeing how irresistible you can make yourself, but it was just the +cleverest thing you ever did," Janet cried, squeezing Joscelyn's waist. +"Mistress Strudwick has near had apoplexy with laughter, and even +Mistress Bryce--who hates you like a double dose of senna and was the +first to call attention to your undecorated door--could not keep a +straight face to hear how neatly you outwitted the young coxcombs. But +really, my dear, you deserve no great credit for it; for in that gown +you are fit to melt harder hearts than Providence gave our gallant +young soldiers." + +"I do not flatter myself their hearts were touched; it was only their +vanity that melted like wax in the flame of my flattery." + +"Well, they deserved what they got,--trying to teach you behaviour, +indeed!" + +The next day the army, refreshed and rested, took up its line of march, +passing directly in front of the Cheshire homestead. On the veranda, in +her brocade and brilliant petticoat and framed by the riotous rose vine, +Joscelyn sat and made pretence to be very busy with her flax wheel; but +from under her drooping lids she saw the whole procession. + +Beside his company rode a young lieutenant, his eager gaze ahead of him +until he reached the undecorated house; then his hat came off, and +lifting his lapel on which hung a faded red rose, he cried up to the +girl in the balcony:-- + +"This is for memory!" + +And Joscelyn laughed and fluttered her white handkerchief with what +might or might not be the suggestion of a kiss. And he, forgetful of +military decorum, turned in his saddle and kept his gaze upon her until +the troop passed beyond the corner. + +"Do you know, Joscelyn," cried Janet, rushing up the steps, her eyes +shining and her yellow curls flying in the wind, "that was Lieutenant +Wyley from Halifax--and he is brother to Frederick--and Frederick +danced with no one but me last night (you don't know what you missed in +not going to the cotillion!)--and he has been at my house the livelong +morning." + +"S-o! You have then a new beau to your string?" + +"Oh, yes! and he is strong and masterful, and talks love beautifully, +and he does not say 'by your leave' like Billy, but is just what a lover +should be." + +"Janet, Janet!" cried Joscelyn, reprovingly; but the laughing girl +tossed her yellow curls coquettishly, the exhilaration of a new conquest +upon her; then suddenly hid her face on Joscelyn's shoulder:-- + +"Joscelyn, dearest, did you ever feel a lover's lips against your cheek +for just one little moment?" + +And Joscelyn went suddenly as red as she, remembering that November day +when Richard came home. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +JOSCELYN'S PERIL. + + "First time he kissed me, he but only kissed + The fingers of this hand wherewith I write; + And, ever since, it grew more clean and white, + Slow to world greetings, quick with its 'O list!' + When the angels speak." + --MRS. BROWNING. + + +Thus the months had come and gone, and come again, until three years had +passed since Richard's company marched away that winter day to join +their comrades at Valley Forge. Three years of warfare, and victory yet +faltered to remain with either standard, but wavered like a fickle woman +from side to side. And Joscelyn held to her allegiance, wearing her +scarlet bodice in open rejoicing at news of an English victory, and +decking herself in sombre mourning when tidings of the American triumph +at King's Mountain thrilled the country with an awakened hope. And in +these habiliments she walked the streets, or sat upon her balcony, that +none might be in doubt as to her feelings. + +"Joscelyn Cheshire be as good as a war barometer," said Mistress +Strudwick; "one has but to look at her to know whether to rejoice or to +sorrow." + +Vainly her mother argued with the girl, showing the danger she ran of +drawing upon them both the enmity of the community. + +"We are but two lone women, and what could we do against a mob? You go +too far in this matter, my daughter. An you alter not your behaviour, we +shall be driven from the town, or else have our house burned over our +heads. Only yesterday Sally Ruffin was telling your Aunt Clevering of +some threats she had heard concerning you." + +But Joscelyn shrugged her shoulders. "They will not harm you, mother; +you are too much of their party creed. And as for me, I fear them +not; they will do naught more serious than to tear down my royal +picture-gallery from the porch, and break a few more window-panes." + +And truly martial events were crowding so fast upon each other that the +community had no time to resent the caprices of a girl. All interest was +now centred in the south. Greene had superseded Gates; Cowpens had been +fought and Tarleton sent in rout to Cornwallis, who started in hot haste +to chastise the victors and recover his captured troopers. But Morgan +threw his battalion over the Catawba; Greene took entire command, and +then begun that marvellous retreat, every step of which was as an +American victory. The pursuit was close behind. The whole country held +its breath at the spectacle of two great armies vying against each other +on almost parallel roads for the far-off fords of the Dan. Twenty-five, +even thirty miles a day they tramped it over roads deep in mire that +held them back as with a fiendish purpose. It was a spectacle to stir +one's blood, no matter on which side the sympathies,--this Titanic +struggle, this heroic race. The rear-guard of the pursued, and the van +of the pursuer, often bivouacked in sight of each other's watch-fires. +Petty strife was at an end; the great principles of war alone held sway, +and it were hard to say in which camp there was more of resolute +endeavour. + +The flooding rains detained Cornwallis at the Catawba, and yet again at +the Yadkin, giving the Americans somewhat of advantage, so that Joscelyn +Cheshire said in her mocking way, that the "weather was supplying the +deficiencies of nature and making a great general out of Nathaniel +Greene." + +"Rather is God aiding a righteous cause," Aunt Clevering retorted. + +Hillsboro' was in a fever of excitement during those days, knowing that +somewhere beyond the mountains that skirted her on the west, these +armies, like mighty leviathans, were writhing on their courses. The town +lay almost in the path of both, and each day was full of rumours and +contradictions. The country people, both Whigs and Tories, crowded in +to learn more speedily the news. The streets were thronged each day +with anxious men and women, asking each other questions and exchanging +surmises. And every day Joscelyn rode her horse from the bridge that +spanned the Eno on the western edge of the town to the clump of boulders +called the "Hen and Chickens," which cropped out of a common that lay +high to the eastward. And always she wore in her hat, with jaunty grace, +a cockade of scarlet ribbon; and Tories bowed low as she passed, and +Whigs scowled and shrugged their shoulders, marvelling at her daring. + +But at last the news came that the race was done; Greene had crossed +the Dan to the safety of Virginia, and a union with the reenforcements +hastily spared him from the northern division, and Cornwallis was +baffled. Disappointed, he turned southward once more, and one February +day the vanguard rode haughtily into Hillsboro', and ere night the +sloping commons, flanking the town to the east and northeast, were +white with a tent city swarming with the soldiers of the king. + +In the general excitement Betty ran across the street and, twisting +Joscelyn's apron-string the while, asked, "Do you think Eus--that is, +that you will have any friends on Cornwallis's staff?" + +"I am quite sure you will have one," answered Joscelyn, with a laughing +accent on the second pronoun. "Mary is already in the parlour wanting me +to go with her and hunt him; what message shall I carry that my welcome +may be sure?" + +"Oh, none!" hastily answered Betty. Then added, with a shy laugh, "Of +course I shall have to see him and thank him for his efforts in +Richard's behalf." + +"Methinks you will have to go through that disagreeable ordeal. When I +see him I shall casually mention that I have asked you to be here at +five this afternoon." + +But Eustace did not wait so long to hear Betty's thanks. He laid no +stress on his services save as a pretext to see her, and when his duties +at headquarters were over he boldly presented himself at Mistress +Clevering's door; and Betty, blushing and palpitating, came down to meet +him; and seeing her thus, his heart surrendered itself anew. But her +mother, following close in her wake, gave him no chance to say the +things he longed. + +"We deeply appreciate your efforts for my son, Master Singleton," she +said, sitting stiffly on the extreme edge of her chair, as if ready to +rise on the instant. + +"I have called this morning, madam, not to receive your thanks, for I do +not deserve them; but to say how sorry I was not to do more for him and +for you, and also to express my sincere regrets over his death." + +"Your regrets are misplaced; my son still lives." + +He stood up, amazed; and the lady also rose as though to bid him adieu. +"Still alive? You astound me, madam; I saw his death record." + +"He escaped instead of dying." + +"It sounds like a miracle; but I am glad of it." He turned to Betty, but +her mother had not resumed her seat, and so he, too, stood in an +awkward hesitation. But the girl put out her hands with an impulsive +gesture, and he gathered them both close in his. + +"It was good of you--so good to go to that horrible ship!" + +"I would have gone to the ends of the world to serve you. Your simplest +wish would be my law, and I would count myself well paid with a smile or +one gentle word." He had forgotten her mother standing there like a +sphinx; and Betty's face went suddenly pale, and then as suddenly +reddened and dimpled, for he bent down and kissed each of her hands +lingeringly. + +"Master Singleton!" The harsh tones recalled him to himself. He turned +to the older woman. "My daughter joins with me in expressing our +gratitude. Since your time must be short, we will no longer detain you." + +Of course he went, and Betty fled to Joscelyn for comfort, for her +mother had said sternly:-- + +"We have done our duty, let the matter end here; and let me say +furthermore, that to be grateful one need not blush and dimple while an +arch-enemy of the country kisses one's hand." + +And Betty had almost choked with confusion, and while crossing the +street had looked at her hands with a sense of tenderness that was new. + +"Oh, Joscelyn, I am so miserable and yet so happy!" And Joscelyn told +her all the sweet things Eustace had said about her at the camp, and +sent her home as red and tremulous as a rose in the sun. + +There was joy among the Loyalists over the coming of the Redcoats, and +consternation among those whose relatives were with Greene. Cornwallis +established his headquarters at the inn on King Street, using the +one-roomed building opposite as his office. Here he set up the royal +standard, and issued a proclamation to the Tories of the vicinity to +come to his aid. He looked for a general up-rising in his favour, but he +looked in vain. The country folk rode into town to learn the latest +news, or brought their wives and daughters to the commander's levees; +but most of them rode home again, unconvinced of the permanency of his +lordship's dominion. + +Joscelyn watched them wrathfully as they took their departures, and +strove by the courtesy of her own manner to atone for their lack of +loyalty. Her house became at once the social rendezvous of the +newcomers, and few hours of the day went by without a summons upon her +knocker. Often she was in the cavalcade that drew rein before the +general's office after a ride of inspection through the camp; for with +the army were several Loyalist ladies who had fled from their homes to +their husbands when Greene began his retreat, and with the Tory women of +the neighbourhood they made a goodly company. Mistress Clevering was +filled with rage when, from behind her closed shutters, she saw the +scarlet-coated officers alight at Joscelyn's door. Mary Singleton was +somewhat chary of her favours, fearing the public resentment when the +British should have withdrawn. But Joscelyn took heed of no such +consideration, and was withal so charming and so cordial that Lord +Cornwallis, recalling his friendship for her father, unbent from his +customary reserve, and exhibited in her parlour a courtesy of bearing +which was of a piece with the humanity he showed upon his campaigns. +Among the younger officers the "Royalist Rose," as they styled her, +became a favourite ere the second sun went down upon their coming; so +there was ever an escort waiting at her door when the staff rode forth +to the outlying camp. + +And oftener than any one else this escort was Captain Barry, of the +second legion. It was he who stood at the door of the general's +headquarters when, on that first day, Mary and Joscelyn arrived to make +inquiry for Eustace, and snatching off his hat he came out to receive +them, for they made a very charming picture as they advanced modestly +toward the entrance, piloted by an orderly. The first smile from +Joscelyn's blue eyes did the whole thing for him. He surrendered at +once, without one effort at self-defence; and when he and Eustace +reached her veranda, having escorted the girls home, there was not so +much as one poor little pennant left fluttering over the ramparts of his +heart. From that hour his comrades, when he was wanted, knew in whose +parlour to seek him, and he never failed to let Joscelyn know when there +was a pleasure ride or a tour of inspection planned for the day. + +It was for an excursion of this sort that Joscelyn dressed herself with +exceeding care one afternoon and, with an officer at either bridle-rein, +went out to see the army parade for the commander's inspection. The +conversation as they paced along was all of the movements of a suspected +spy from Greene's host beyond the Dan. + +"We cannot locate the fellow; but certain it is, the doings of our army +are reported accurately to the insurrectionists. Yesterday a letter was +discovered in a hollow stump on the mountain side, left there, of +course, by preconcerted arrangement to be called for. The stump is being +secretly watched, but as yet no results have been obtained. This is all +well known and talked about, Mistress Joscelyn, and you, being one of +us--" Barry's smile said the rest. + +"Is it a townsman who has written these reports, think you?" asked the +girl, going over in her mind the people who might be implicated, with a +quick inward throb for some of her friends. + +"I judge not, for there are references to the writer's journey back from +the Dan. Evidently it is a follower of Greene who knows this country +well. He is exceedingly artful, but his capture is necessarily certain, +with all the precautions we have taken." + +"And what would be his fate, if caught?" + +"A spy is shot--or mayhap his lordship will hang him on the hill yonder, +where they tell me Governor Tryon swung up the traitorous Regulators in +years gone by. 'Twould be but another chapter in the red history of this +your Tyburn Hill." + +The young soldier laughed at his own allusion, but Joscelyn shuddered; +for the first time she seemed to fully realize the grim actualities of +war. Her companions chatted on gayly, and finally she forced herself to +join in the conversation; but somehow they could not get away from the +subject of those surreptitious reports and their author. + +The wide upland common had been turned into a parade ground, and was +full of soldiers marching and counter-marching. The general and his +staff were already afield and saluted the newcomers as they passed on to +the "Hen and Chickens," about which a party of spectators, chiefly +ladies, were already congregated. Here the officers left Joscelyn with +some friends, and rode away to their different commands. It was some +time before the parade began, and in the interim there was much laughing +and talking around the rough boulders. And here again Joscelyn heard of +the wary scout. + +"Who are those men there to the left?" she asked, by way of changing the +conversation, and pointed to five or six men in citizen's dress who +were grouped apart by themselves. Some were mounted; some on foot. + +"Oh, those are the Tory recruits who came in this morning. They have not +yet been assigned to their respective commands, and so are viewing the +scene merely as spectators; to-morrow they will be put in the ranks. The +tall one on the right was with Pyle when Lee surprised and routed him. I +understand he says information of Pyle's movements was sent to Lee by +some one within the town here--probably a Continental spy." + +There was more to tell; but the parade was beginning and the +conversation ended, much to Joscelyn's relief. It somehow unstrung her +nerves to think of another hanging up on Regulators' Hill. From her +saddle she watched the scarlet companies advance, wheel, pass directly +in front of the general's staff, and finally take position in the long +line which was thus formed across the field. It was a stirring sight, +and her fingers relaxed their hold on the rein as she leaned forward to +watch every movement. Suddenly a band stationed near the group struck up +a lively air. The unexpected blare of the trumpets startled Joscelyn's +horse; an upward toss of his head shook the rein from her inert hand, +and then with the panic of fear upon him he wheeled about and dashed off +at a mad pace. The women in the group behind screamed; for the rein was +swinging about the animal's feet, and the girl in the saddle was +utterly at his mercy. From the first plunge Joscelyn realized the peril +of her position; for a few seconds she clung terror stricken to the horn +of her saddle; then she shook her foot free from the stirrup and eased +her knee from the pommel, for an awful memory had come to her. A hundred +yards ahead, directly in the path of the frantic horse, was a deep +ditch, ragged with rocks; there the race must end in death to the +horse--and mayhap to the rider. Her one chance was to leap from the +saddle. It took but a second for this to flash through her mind; but +even as she turned slightly in her saddle, a voice rang out sternly +above the braying horns and the thundering hoof beats:-- + +"Do not jump, on your life!" + +Her fingers closed over the saddle horn in spasmodic obedience; and then +she saw that the horse was running directly toward the group of men in +civilian dress on the little knoll, and that one of them had sprung +forward and waited with uplifted arm the coming of the runaway. Even +through her terror there came a dim realization of the death he was +courting; but in another instant the collision came. The man was knocked +aside by the flying horse, but his hand had caught the rein, and half +dragged, half running, he kept his place at the animal's head. Then his +other hand, fumbling uncertainly, found the bit, and he was master of +the brute. Almost upon the brink of the yawning ditch the horse ceased +its plunges and stood still, quivering through its whole body. The other +men who had followed now crowded about with exclamations and inquiries. + +"Will you dismount?" asked her rescuer. + +And then as she stretched out her shaking hands for his assistance, she +saw his face for the first time. He was deathly pale, and his hat, which +some one had picked up, was drawn low over his brow; but the voice and +the eyes were Richard Clevering's. She would have spoken his name but +for a quick glance of warning from under his hat brim. Then a new sense +of terror swept over her; for, by some swift and subtle instinct, it +came to her that Richard was the hunted spy of whom she had that day +heard so much. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +TRAPPED. + + "You trust a woman who puts forth + Her blossoms thick as summer's?" + --MRS. BROWNING. + + +Not a word was spoken as he lifted her to the ground, and when they +turned to walk back to her companions, it was the tall Loyalist who led +her horse. She listened as in a daze to the talk going on around her, +answering briefly the questions of the solicitous group. But the +presence behind her was the one she felt, and yet she dared not look +backward until they were close upon the company at the boulders; then, +lest she seem ungrateful, and also with a definite purpose to warn him, +she turned to speak to him. He was not among those who followed in the +rear. She breathed more freely, scarcely able to restrain a cry of +relief, for surely he had escaped; and presently she said to the tall +man:-- + +"Methinks I thanked not your companion sufficiently for the service he +did me. Will you bear him a message of gratitude?" + +"I will speak with him as soon as the parade is over." + +It was best to end the matter thus, than to see him again face to face; +for she felt she dared not trust her shaken nerves in another interview, +lest the warning she wished to convey turn into a betrayal. He must have +realized his danger, and gone at once. + +Her escape was the subject of much rejoicing; even Lord Cornwallis, to +whom an account of the accident was carried, sent his aide with +congratulations, and Barry came back at a lope, looking like a ghost +with anxiety. She heard not a half of what was said, her mind was in +such a tumult of perplexity as to her rightful course and of anxiety for +her Clevering friends. Naturally her companions attributed her silence +and abstraction to her recent fright, and gave no thought to it. She was +infinitely relieved when the parade was over, and they were once more on +the homeward road. Her horse had recovered from his panic, and was +moving along quietly. + +"If he had to run away, why could he not have given me the chance to +save you?" Barry said, with much chagrin, longing to show his devotion +and gain some hold upon her thoughts. + +"Perhaps he knew that with you at hand he would have no chance," she +answered with a forced smile, dragging her mind from the dread that +haunted it. + +It was mid-winter; the remnants of a snowstorm still bleached in the +sheltered places among the fields, and whiter yet on the sloping sides +of the mountains behind which the sun had just set, leaving them framed +and fringed with yellow fire. The river at their base was hidden in its +banks and could only be guessed at; but the nestling town had caught a +reflection of radiance from the sunset banners flying above it, and +stood out like some sculptured bas-relief against the downward-dropping +hills. Like the fine colours in an opal, the lights came and went, +brightened and faded. Joscelyn's pulse had begun to beat normally under +the spell of the ethereal beauty of the scene, when suddenly far up the +mountain road her keen eyes descried a moving figure. The trees were +nude of foliage, and the snow lying along the winding road was as a +reflector to show up the dark moving object, which for a moment was seen +and then lost to sight behind a clump of cedars. Was it a cow, or a man +on horseback? A strange curiosity took hold of the girl; she thought she +alone saw it, and all sorts of speculations were in her mind when her +reverie was rudely broken by the officer on her right. + +"Linsey," he said in a whisper which Joscelyn's straining ears caught, +at the same time lifting his finger toward the mountain; "Linsey, an I +mistake not, yonder goes our spy; gallop at once to Colonel Tarleton, +and bid him warn his scouts." + +The aide touched his cap and was gone ere Joscelyn's startled breath +came back. + +"Why, you are again all of a tremble," Barry said, leaning over to +touch her hand, a world of anxiety in his eyes. + +"I--I suppose it was the sound of that other horse's hoofs," she said, +angry with herself for her weakness. "You see I am not a soldier and +used, like you, to face death every day." + +"Thank Heaven you are not," he answered, holding one rein of her bridle +with the joy of a strong man protecting beautiful womanhood. And thus +near to her he whispered many tender things in her ear,--his tense, +young voice vibrant with the awakened passion of his heart; and the +girl's pulses stirred with a strange, sweet quiver. + +So it was they rode home. There in her own room she went over this whole +dread matter, with a womanish longing in her heart to talk to some +one,--to ask advice; but her mother was too timid, and a glance at Aunt +Clevering's dark house decided her that it would be cruel to arouse +anxiety there. Then Barry's manly face and frank eyes came before her, +and in a sudden fit of foolish hysteria, she put her face in her hands +and cried. If she could only go to Barry! But that would have one of two +effects,--it would either put him on Richard's trail, or else make him +false to his cause by winning him to shield the fugitive. She could not +risk either alternative. And what was true of Barry applied with equal +force to Eustace. She would not, if she could, tempt him, through his +love for Betty, to do anything that would dishonour him among his +fellows. And besides, he would not be here to-night with the company +she had invited, for he had said he was going with the relief guard to +one of the outposts. No, there was no one to counsel her; she must think +and act for herself. At first two torturing questions tore her judgment +in twain. The Spartans gave up their nearest and dearest for the cause +of their country, and should she withhold the identity of this man who +had no claim of blood upon her, and who carried perhaps to the king's +enemies information that would defeat the cause? Should she say, "I know +him"; or should she keep her peace and let him go his way? Then she +realized that her knowledge was too meagre to be of any benefit; his +name was all she could surrender, and that were nothing to his pursuers, +who knew more than she of his work and movements. And besides, there +were Betty and Aunt Clevering and Richard himself. No, she could not +play the part of the Spartan; she wanted to be of use to her cause, but +she was keeping back no treasonable knowledge. And with this comforting +assurance, she put the matter aside and dressed herself for the evening, +lacing the brocade over the brilliant petticoat with a smile to think +what Barry would say. Not for a moment did she believe Richard would be +caught; he had the start, and he knew the country much better than his +pursuers, and would outstrip them in the race. + +It was a brilliant company that assembled in her drawing-room that +night,--handsome women and splendid officers, and even Cornwallis +himself,--all come to enjoy her hospitality and to inquire concerning +her accident of the afternoon. + +"Asked you the name of this brave fellow who saved you?" inquired the +commander-in-chief, with a smile. "Methinks he should be promoted for so +signal a service to his Majesty's loyal subject." + +"Nay, your lordship, I asked it not," Joscelyn answered steadily. + +"'Twas the fright made her seem so ungrateful," put in her mother. + +"And small wonder, Mistress Cheshire, for she was in dire straits. But +'tis of no consequence; the name can be easily ascertained, and I shall +myself make the inquiries. Half my staff are mad with jealousy at his +good fortune, and methinks I myself envy him a bit the sweet thanks he +will receive. Now if Mistress Joscelyn's nerves be not too much shaken, +we will have some music." + +So the spinet was opened; and the merriment began and went on far into +the night, while the Cleverings over the way fretted behind their closed +doors in bitter resentment of Joscelyn's conduct. + +"Why, she is actually playing at cards!" cried Betty, who was secretly +on the lookout, for the opposite shutters had not been closed nor the +curtains drawn, so the inmates of the lighted room were in plain view. +"Lord Cornwallis is her partner, but that Captain Barry sits beside her +and whispers behind her cards. Mary Singleton is at the other table, but +I do not see--" her voice trailed off into silence, for she never +mentioned Eustace's name to her mother. + +Meanwhile Joscelyn was all unconscious and unmindful of this +surveillance and, recovering from her fright, her spirits rose +hourly until she had quite regained her accustomed manner. It was not +until something after ten o'clock that an interruption befell their +pleasure-taking. Then suddenly there came the sound of galloping hoofs +down the stony street; many voices shouted and responded, a pistol shot +rang out, and from somewhere under the darkness a guttural drum growled +out its warning. Every man in the room was on his feet in an instant, +and hands snatched for hats and weapons. + +"It is a night surprise!" cried a dozen voices; but even at that moment +the door was thrown open, and an orderly, bowing low, cried out to the +general that the noise was being made by his own men, who had turned +a spy back from the mountains, and chased him into the town where he +was as a rat in a trap, and must immediately be taken. Every heart in +the room ceased its mad beating with relief at this news--every heart +but one. Joscelyn could feel hers pounding against her ribs, and +involuntarily she moved to the window and looked at the dark house +opposite, shuddering as she thought of the grief so soon to enter there. + +In ten minutes the hue and cry had swept down the street, and only faint +echoes came back upon the wind. The whole town was astir, and Joscelyn's +guests lingered a few minutes on the veranda, questioning those who came +and went. + +"Yes, he went straight down this street, riding like one possessed," +said one man to Barry. + +"He has quit his horse, and the guard have captured it," cried out a +messenger a moment later. + +"Ah, well; then will they soon have the man too, even though they search +every house, barn, and hen-coop in the town; Colonel Tarleton does +nothing by halves," laughed his lordship. "Come, Mistress Cheshire, let +us back to our game; ere we end it, the fellow will be in the toils." + +They went slowly back into the house, Joscelyn striving to steady her +nerves by long, deep breaths; but as they drew their chairs again about +the tables, there came from the story above a crash as of breaking +chinaware. Everybody looked up expectant, and Mistress Cheshire rose. + +"I will go," cried Joscelyn, glad to escape, and pushing her mother +gently back into her chair. "'Tis no doubt that troublesome cat again; +he broke one of my flower jars last week." She tripped upstairs, calling +back to his lordship to deal and have the hands ready for she would be +absent only a moment. + +In the upper hall all was silence and semi-darkness. She went first to +her own room, pausing just long enough to press her hands hard upon her +temples before passing from it to her mother's, calling the cat the +while very softly. A fire of logs burned in her mother's fireplace, +so that she wondered at the cold breath of air that smote her as she +entered; then she started,--a back window was open and the pot of plants +which had stood upon the ledge lay shattered on the floor. A swift +annoyance flashed upon her at the maid's neglect, so that she went +forward and closed the sash with a spirited promptness. Picking up a bit +of the broken shard, and facing about from the window in search of the +cat, she suddenly became aware of a man's figure in the shadowy corner +opposite. Instinctively she opened her mouth for a nervous cry, but with +an imperative gesture for silence, he stepped forward, and even in the +dim light she knew it was Richard Clevering. The scream died upon her +lips, and for a moment the objects in the room spun before her. + +"You--_you_?" and even in whispering her voice was strained and shaken. + +"Yes; it was this or death--they had run me to the wall." + +"But the house is full of British soldiers--Lord Cornwallis and his +whole staff--" + +"So much the better; the place will be above suspicion." + +"Mistress Joscelyn, Mistress Joscelyn!" cried a dozen voices from below, +while chairs were being pushed about, and some one struck a few notes +on the spinet. + +"And I myself, sir, am a true Loyalist and cannot harbour--" + +There was a footstep on the stair. "Mistress Joscelyn, we be coming up +to help you catch the cat!" cried Barry's voice. + +Richard sprang toward her, "My God, Joscelyn! you will not give me up +like that?" + +But the steps were halfway up the stair, and she was already turning the +knob of the door, her face like marble in the leaping firelight. + +[Illustration: "'MY GOD, JOSCELYN, YOU WILL NOT GIVE ME UP LIKE THAT!'"] + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +"SEARCH MY LADY'S WARDROBE." + + "Sweetheart? not she whose voice was music-sweet, + Whose face loaned language to melodious prayer; + Sweetheart I called her.--When did she repeat + Sweet to one hope or heart to one despair?" + --CAWEIN. + + +To the man crouching behind the door which Joscelyn had left open, the +minute it took her to traverse the hall and gain the head of the stairs +at the far end, seemed a lifetime. Even in his dire peril the thought of +a bygone day came back to him--"loyal, though a Loyalist," he had said +of her, and had believed it. What a sweetheart to have coddled in one's +thoughts and dreamed of, waking and sleeping,--this girl who would in +cold blood hand him over to death because of a fancied duty! Escape by +the way he came was impossible; he could only wait here and sell his +life at the highest price. Ay, there should be left in this room a +memory that would exile her from it forever; the blood that had beat for +her and which she had betrayed, should redden her floor and stain the +dainty things she loved. + +His sword had been thrown away when he quitted his horse, since it +cumbered his flight; but his pistols and dirk were still upon him, and +he made ready for their use. Then through the crevice of the hinge, he +beheld Joscelyn as she faced about in the brighter light at the head of +the stairs, and the weapon well-nigh slipped from his hand as he saw her +hold up the bit of shard she still carried, and say, with a smile, to +those below:-- + +"'Tis not worth while your coming. What need to waste time on the +senseless offender when the offence is beyond repair? My very last +flowering almond is a hopeless wreck, and I had nursed it with such +care!" She ended with a sigh and a pretty pout, and went slowly down the +stair out of Richard's sight; but the voices from below reached him +distinctly, so that he heard the officers' condolences and her laughing +replies. Great drops of perspiration broke out upon his brow as the +joyous truth dawned fully upon him. + +She did not intend to betray his presence in the house to the +scarlet-coated bloodhounds who would tear him limb from limb! + +How could he ever have mistrusted her, this one woman whom he had loved +with the passion of youth and of manhood? He sank to a sitting posture +upon the floor, propping himself against the wall, for he was +desperately weary with the long, hard chase, and this relief was as the +opening of Paradise before his aching eyes. His limbs relaxed; but his +ears were strained to catch every sound that came up the stairway. The +game of cards had been renewed, and the merriment was at its height, +when twenty minutes later there was again a commotion in the street and +a loud summons at the door. + +"May it please your lordship," said Tarleton's voice, "the fellow hath +give us the slip and is in hiding with some of his sympathizers. We wish +a permit to search the houses in this neighbourhood, for hereabouts he +must be, since he was seen last at yonder corner." + +There arose a perfect Babel of voices, out of which Richard could make +nothing clearly; but he knew the permit was given, for in a few minutes +Tarleton opened the street-door, and ordered his men to begin the search +at the house on the lower corner, and proceed thence up the street, +missing no dwelling. Every other street and alley in the town had been +sentinelled, so he assured Cornwallis. + +The soldiers at the door dispersed, and a breathless silence filled the +house. Richard dared not move lest his stiff joints pop, or his boots +creak and betray him. He knew flight was impossible; for there was a +stamping of horses in the rear court, proving that the house was +surrounded. It were wiser to wait and face the fate that came to him, +than go out to meet it on the way. + +The minutes that followed seemed interminable. He felt that his doom was +sealed, and then there came upon him an overmastering desire to hear +Joscelyn's voice once more. Why did she not come to him on some feigned +pretext or other? Surely she must know how he suffered! Death were not +so hard to meet, if he could but first hold her in his arms and hear her +say some tender word. + +Then the noise in the street grew louder, and he knew that the search +was drawing near. His nerves were strained to tautness, when presently +he heard the party stop in the street below, and a voice downstairs +cried out gayly:-- + +"They be going to call upon your kinsfolk, the Cleverings, Mistress +Joscelyn. Let us out to the balcony and see the fun." + +In the confusion of scraping chairs and opening doors, Richard got to +his feet. The cold and weariness in his limbs were forgotten in anxiety +for his mother. A-tiptoe he crossed the room in the shadow of the +furniture and gained Joscelyn's front window,--that window out of which +he had seen her lean in her scarlet bodice the day he marched away so +long ago. It was an easy thing to hide himself in the folds of the heavy +curtains which had been drawn for the night; and thus concealed, to +watch, through a crescent slit in the blind, the scene below, for the +veranda was open with no roof to intervene. + +It was full moon, and the figures in the street, twenty men-at-arms, +were plainly visible. Three of these passed silently to the rear of his +mother's house, while the others drew up in line before the door. Then +the leader smote the panels until they rang like a drum. Twice was the +summons repeated ere a voice from an upper window demanded what might +be the matter. + +"Matter enough that I knock," replied the man, so insolently that +Richard's blood took fire, for every word could be distinctly heard from +his coign of vantage. + +"Nay, we be but two lone women in this house, and we open not but to the +proper authorities." + +"Well, and we be the authorities," answered the man less rudely, for +there was that in Mistress Clevering's voice that brought him to his +senses. "We have here an order from the commander-in-chief to search +this house for a rebel spy. Open the door and read the writ for +yourself." + +The window above was closed, and presently the click of the lock was +heard, and then the door opened partially and Mistress Clevering, candle +in hand, stood before them. Betty cowered behind like a frightened +child. + +"No one is here save my daughter and myself; to search the house were +wasted time." And in her heart, Joscelyn thanked Heaven she could speak +thus truly; but the soldier said brusquely:-- + +"We have judged the matter differently; lead the way, and see to it that +you open every door. We will put up with no deception." + +As they passed into the house, Joscelyn's voice from over the way cried +out shrilly, "Neglect not to search the closet by the attic chimney; +'tis just of a size to hold a man, and perchance contains him whom you +seek." + +Mistress Clevering turned angrily toward the door as though she would +answer, but the soldiers urged her on, and so it was Betty who called +back:-- + +"That is neighbourly! Tell all you know about your best friends, +Mistress Ingrate; we have naught to fear." + +At this Joscelyn laughed loudly, but to Richard the laugh was more +hysterical than mirthful, like one under a great nervous strain. He felt +his hands involuntarily groping for his pistols, as the opposite light +flashed from window to window and he knew his mother was being ordered +about by those insolent Redcoats. The candle lingered longest in the +attic; but at last it descended, and soon the disappointed soldiers +stood in the street empty handed. Tarleton was furious and swore a great +oath, but the soldiers protested they had overlooked no nook or corner +where a man might conceal himself. + +"'Tis a bootless errand, sir; unless, indeed, the man be in this house," +said Tarleton, riding up to Joscelyn's door. "What say you, shall we +search here also?" + +Upstairs Richard's heart stood still, while down below Joscelyn's head +swam. Then her laugh rippled out mockingly. + +"Truly, your lordship, that is a reflection upon you and those of your +gallant officers who have done me the honour to spend the evening under +my roof! I pray you, gentlemen all, turn your pockets wrong side out +that Colonel Tarleton may be sure you have not hidden his spy." + +"I jest not, mistress," answered Tarleton, who owed her a grudge in that +she had manifested much personal dislike to himself. "What says your +lordship?" + +Cornwallis started to reply, and then hesitated; whereupon Joscelyn +broke in haughtily:-- + +"An your lordship doubts my loyalty, pray let the search proceed--the +doors are open." + +"Ay, search; and fail not to look in my Lady Ingrate's wardrobe; 'tis +just of a size to hold a man," came with a scornful laugh from over the +way; for Betty was still at her door, and the street was not so wide but +that the opposite voices reached her clearly. + +"Of course," said Joscelyn, with the same haughty dignity; "search the +wardrobe by all means; here are the keys." She threw the bunch at +Tarleton's feet, calling to her mother to do the same, and then walked +into the hall, her head up and her eyes aglow. Richard could not see +her, and so ground his teeth in an impotent rage that she would thus +tamely yield him up. But the next moment he guessed her purpose, +realizing this was her surest way to avert suspicion, and he blessed her +under his breath. If they found him, they should never know that she had +for a moment connived at his concealment. + +Tarleton stooped to pick up the keys, but Cornwallis interposed. + +"Nay, sir; to search this house would be an affront to so loyal a +subject as Mistress Joscelyn. Besides, the idea that the miscreant is +hiding here is preposterous. He must have seen us through the windows, +and to enter would have been to rush into the lion's jaws. Spies as a +rule are wise men; not the fools of an army. Search the stable if you +will, leave a guard in the alley; but enter not the house. And now, +Mistress Cheshire, I see the ladies are going; we will also withdraw +after returning thanks to you and your daughter for your charming +hospitality." + +Richard clutched at the window-frame to steady himself as he realized +the present peril had passed. What a glorious girl Joscelyn was, for all +her Toryism and scoffing! + +Joscelyn stood at the door, courtesying to her departing guests,--the +picture of dainty, decorous hospitality. As Tarleton lifted his hat +sullenly, she looked him straight in the eyes, and said graciously:-- + +"I will leave this door unbolted, that your sentry may come in and warm +himself by the fire in the rear room as the night grows chilly." + +To doubt her after that were impossible; and he excused his former +brusqueness by saying a soldier's duty was oftentimes most displeasing +to himself. She accepted the apology with a smile, and stood in the door +until they all, even Barry, who was always tardy over his leave-taking, +had gotten to horse; and then with a final good night, she shut them +out. She did not stop in the hall, but went straight on to the stair, +saying to her mother as she ran up:-- + +"Will you see to the lights down here, mother? I will go up and look +after your fire." + +This was a reversal of the usual order of things, but her mother was too +used to her caprices to take any notice. In the room above, Richard had +already replenished the fire, and was waiting for her on the rug with +eager, outstretched arms. + +"Joscelyn!" he cried; but she silenced him with a gesture. + +"Quick--off with your boots--mother must not know; there will be further +inquiry to-morrow, and for very anxiety she could not keep the secret. +Now, come." In the hall she leaned over the banister to ask her mother +to leave something on the table for the sentry to eat; and when the old +lady was gone back to the pantry, Joscelyn unlocked the door of the +shed-like attic at the rear of the hall, and giving Richard the lighted +candle she held, she pushed him in. "There are plenty of blankets on the +shelves at the far end--make your bed on a pile of carpet that is behind +the cedar chest." + +"But, Joscelyn--" + +"H-u-s-h, not so loud. As you know, the attic has no windows, so your +candle cannot be seen outside. There is mother--I will come back if I +can." + +She was gone, and he knew that she had locked the door from without. +Along with his sense of relief came an exquisite joy that he was her +prisoner, that it was she who must minister to him,--she to whom he owed +his life. It was some minutes before he remembered her injunction and +set to work to make himself comfortable. He left the candle on the floor +beside his boots and, wrapping himself in the blankets, found a cosey +resting-place behind the big cedar chest. What thoughts and visions +crowded his mind as he lay there under the spider-hung rafters that +dropped almost to his head! Five days before he had quitted his +command--impelled by a thirsty desire to see Joscelyn's face--to +undertake the dangerous mission of his chief, and ascertain Cornwallis's +actual strength. Unable to learn anything definite by hearsay, and +catching idle rumours of Joscelyn's popularity among the English +officers, the daring design had come to him to play the part of a +Loyalist seeking enlistment in the British army, trusting to what little +disguise he could add to his own altered looks to shield him. Following +out this plan, and gaining at the parade all the knowledge necessary, he +had stolen from the field, and would have effected his escape had he but +taken the longer bridle-path around the mountain, rather than the +shorter one directly over it. Joscelyn's accident had delayed him +somewhat, and trusting to his citizen's dress, and the preoccupation of +the whole force at the parade, he had thought to be beyond sight or +pursuit ere the review was over. That his reckoning failed, has been +already shown. Tarleton's henchmen, set on by Linsey, had headed him off +and driven him back into the town. Passed through the peril, and strong +man that he was, he yet shuddered as he thought how near to death he had +been when he leaped from his horse at the corner yonder, and with a +fierce cut sent the animal as a decoy down the dark adjacent street, +while he plunged into the shadowy alley. At Mistress Cheshire's rear +gate he had recognized his bearings, and entering without hesitation, he +had crossed the yard, and by means of a grape-trellis climbed to the +roof of the rear porch. To open the window was not difficult, but in +entering he had upset that flower jar and betrayed his presence. He had +heard the talk and laughter as he climbed up, and guessed who Joscelyn's +guests were; but he trusted to her mother to hide him. How infinitely +sweeter it was to know that, instead, it was her own hand that had saved +him. + +For nearly an hour he lay thus, stretched at full length upon the +restful pallet. Then, all at once, although he was conscious of no +sound, he felt that she had come. Rising hastily, he met her as she +slipped through the half-opened door. She shaded her eyes for a moment +to concentrate the light, the candle was so dim; then crossing over to +the chest, she placed on it a platter of food and a pitcher of milk. + +"You must be half famished;" and although but a whisper, her voice was +studiously polite. "I have brought you ample supply; for it may be late +ere you get your breakfast in the morning, seeing I have to smuggle it +to you." + +Never had he seen her so beautiful. The shining brocade set off every +curve of her figure; under the lace of her bodice her bosom rose and +fell with suppressed excitement, and her eyes were full of the starry +lights he knew so well. And yet there was something about her that held +in check the fire that leaped through his pulses. For the first time as +he gazed thus upon her, he realized fully the menace he had brought upon +her. + +"Joscelyn, I should never have come here." + +"It was, as you said, your only chance." + +"I should not have taken that chance; rather I should have died beside +my horse before bringing this danger to you." + +"Hush! they will not harm me." Her head went up with a little triumphant +fling as she said this; for she was thinking of Barry, and how, if +detection came, he would surely save her. + +"You do not know the penalty one pays for harbouring a spy; I will go +this very night and free you from this menace." + +"No, no," was the hasty answer. "We should both be undone--Tarleton's +men will watch the house all night. To-morrow night perchance, or the +night after; but not to-night. You are safe here for the present, for +his lordship's orders will be obeyed." + +He came close to her, so close that he saw the pallor of her face, and +the perfume of her dress rose with a sweet intoxication to his nostrils. +"Joscelyn, is it for love of me that you have done this thing?" + +"No." + +"For what, then?" + +"For sake of our old comradeship and for Betty. Besides, you saved my +life this afternoon--a return of favours leaves no burden of obligation +on either of us." + +"Nay; you risk more for me than I did for you." + +She shrugged her shoulders. "The accounts balance." Then glancing about +solicitously, she added, "I would I could make you more comfortable, but +our first care must be to avert suspicion. Good night." + +She was moving to the door, but he caught her wrists just below the +hanging lace of her sleeve; and holding her thus, he told her in a few +graphic sentences all his thoughts as he had rested under the rafters +behind the chest--the reason and the history of his scouting venture, +the mental trysts he had held with her so often. All the intensity of +his strong nature went into that appeal; it seemed as if a heart of ice +must have melted in it; and for a moment her head did droop and her +hands tremble, then she shrugged her gleaming shoulders again, saying:-- + +"It had certainly been more soldier-like to have come for love of your +cause, rather than for sake of a girl's eyes." + +"For sake of both did I come." + +"A spy--" + +But she got no further; something in her tone stung him to the quick. +"You need not speak so disparagingly. A spy's work may not be pleasant, +but it is absolutely necessary. Without the information he sends his +general, false steps might be taken and hundreds of lives needlessly +sacrificed. A spy has a humane as well as a dangerous mission." + +"'Tis well you think so highly of your calling. Good night again." + +"Joscelyn, do not leave me thus; this day we have each looked into the +eyes of death--let us at least part as friends." + +She turned back, her face dimpling with a smile that was like a gleam of +sunshine, "Good night, Richard, and a safe awakening." + +Then she was gone; and he threw himself down to sleep the sleep of utter +weariness. + +Joscelyn sat on the rug before her almost burned-out fire, trying to +disengage the attic key from the big bunch her mother habitually wore at +her belt, and thinking rapidly of the events of the day. She knew that +the end had not been reached, but she was determined to brave it out; +there was nothing else to do,--there had been nothing else from the +first. And she must stand alone. Fresh inquiry would be instituted +to-morrow, and her mother's veracity could not stand the strain to which +it might be put if she knew all. Neither could the secret be shared +with Aunt Clevering, for her mother-heart might betray its anxiety, and +so would another family be involved. She must bear the burden herself; +must evade, pretend, even _lie_, if need be, to keep the knowledge from +any one else. The man had fled to her for sanctuary; which were worse, +she asked herself bitterly, to soil her lips with an untruth, or her +hands with a betrayal, a breach of trust and of hospitality? From Betty +and Aunt Clevering she could expect no mercy of neglect, because of that +hasty speech about the attic closet. It had been made thoughtlessly, to +establish her own footing more securely by a great show of loyalty; but +would, she knew, act as a two-edged sword, cutting away part of her +safety. To-morrow she would not dare leave the house all day lest +something terrible transpire in her absence; she must feign some pretext +for staying indoors--perchance a headache from the effects of her +fright. + +And then having planned her course fully and carefully, woman-like she +began to cry tempestuously at the position in which she found herself; +blaming with equally unreasoning impatience the band, Richard, and her +horse for her predicament. If she were only a Whig, doing this thing for +her country, or else if she were but in love with Richard, how +beautiful, how romantic, it would all be! But--but-- + +And even after she was in bed, she went on sobbing softly to herself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +IN TARLETON'S TOILS. + + "The brave man is not he who feels no fear, + For that were stupid and irrational; + But he whose noble soul its fear subdues, + And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from." + --JOANNA BAILLIE. + + +After a troubled sleep that brought little rest, Joscelyn opened her +eyes on what she supposed would be a day of danger,--certainly a day of +small deceptions. But in one way fortune favoured her; the morning was +cold and raw, with now and then a flurry of snow, so she would have no +occasion to leave the house, and need worry over no excuse for biding at +home. But the early hours were full of quavers and starts; the least +quick noise sent her blood racing through its channels. Her first real +fright came when the guard in the back yard discovered bits of fresh mud +upon the trellis of the porch. + +"'Tis nothing," she said, with a touch of asperity when he showed it to +her; "the maid threw a broken flower pot from the upper window, and this +earth was no doubt spilled out as it fell--there are the remnants of the +jar by the fence." + +The guard bowed and withdrew; but there was a supercilious smile on his +face, which filled her with nervous apprehension. In a hasty resentment +that the man perhaps guessed at her duplicity, she could have struck +him. + +And yet a second time was she thrown into consternation, when her mother +discovered the loss of the attic key from her bunch. + +"Oh, it is not lost! I broke the string yesterday night, and doubtless I +missed this one when I strung them up again. It is in my room this +minute, I dare swear. Is there aught you need in the attic now?" + +"Nay, I but feared the key was lost." + +"Well, let me first finish this round of knitting and I will hunt it. +Mother," she went on, after a pause, during which she picked up her +stitches industriously, "had you not better go over and make my peace +with Aunt Clevering? She was most angry with me last night." + +"And good cause she had, Joscelyn; methinks I never heard any one make +so rude a speech. What put you to it?" + +"In faith, mother, I cannot tell. It was cruel and unwarranted, and you +may tell her I say so, and that I am bitterly sorry. Make any excuse you +please, only make it at once, for you know Aunt Clevering's displeasure +grows like a mushroom when left to itself." + +She had small hope that her aunt would be appeased, but she wanted her +mother out of the way that she might carry her prisoner something to +eat. It was close upon one o'clock, and not a morsel had she been able +to give him. She drew the bolt of the front door after her mother, who +was nothing loath to go upon this peace errand; and hurrying to the +dining room, made hasty preparation to relieve Richard's needs. She was +not used to doing things upon the sly, and her heart was in hot +rebellion that she must stoop to such a thing among her own servants. +There were hard lines of determination about her mouth, but the hands +that sliced the meat and buttered the bread shook a little. Even when on +the stair, she turned back, startled by a sound in the hall; but it was +only the cat romping with her little ones, and so once more she went on. +Softly she unlocked the attic door, and stepped in. The room was in +partial twilight, having no window, but she saw Richard coming to meet +her. + +"No May-day sunshine was ever half so welcome," he whispered, taking her +hand in both of his. "Tell me how matters have gone this morning. I have +fretted myself into a fever lest I bring some annoyance upon you. And +now you must promise me that if discovery comes, you will forswear all +knowledge of my being here. I shall claim that the key was in the lock, +and after I was inside, some one came and closed the door. Thus will you +be free from blame." + +"And think you any one will believe so flimsy a story? Nay, the only +safety for either of us lies in your not being discovered. I understand +that Tarleton is furious over his failure, and has already ordered a +new search. I rely upon my own loyalty, and upon his lordship's order +for our exemption. But if the worst comes, we must be prepared." + +"I am." He touched his pistols and drew himself up until his magnificent +figure was at perfect pose. "I shall die, Joscelyn, but like a soldier; +not on the gallows." + +She shuddered, and her eyes lost their coldness; the woman in her was +touched by his cool courage in face of such a danger. + +"Yes," she said, with a hesitating gentleness, "but I pray it come not +to that. By being prepared I meant we must leave no tell-tale traces +here such as these,"--she pointed to the platter and pitcher. "I shall +take these away; your dinner I have brought in this bit of paper--leave +no crumbs when you have finished. This jug contains water and this +bottle wine; stand them in that corner with those empty bottles, and +they will attract no attention." + +"It shall be done, Joscelyn." + +"Watch under the door; if there is an order given to search the house, I +will try and warn you by a note." + +"Joscelyn, desperate as I was, I should have sought some other shelter, +had I not thought your loyalty would put your house beyond the shadow of +suspicion. Will you not say you forgive me before you go? We may never +meet again." + +"There is nothing to forgive; you but put it in my power to requite an +obligation," she said very gently. + +"That is scarce a pardon. I would have you speak as though the +forgiveness came from your heart, rather than from your head. Between us +there can be no question of a debt; my love makes me your bondservant, +and as such my service is yours rightfully." + +"Your name is not known," she broke in hastily, "but I understand it is +suspected that my rescuer of yesterday is the escaped spy." + +"That accounts for Tarleton's doubt of you. Joscelyn, I will not stay +here a moment longer and expose you thus. My mother's house has already +been searched--" + +"And will be again ere nightfall. What you propose is folly,--worse than +folly; it is death to you and betrayal to me. There are double guards +everywhere, for Colonel Tarleton is as much policeman as soldier. You +could not leave this house and cross the street alive!" + +"Then what must I do?" + +"Why, in sooth, since you cannot go, you must remain." There was just a +touch in her voice and smile which made him think of their early days of +quarrel and make-up. It was such an intoxicating change from her manner +of a moment ago that he lost his head and caught her for a moment in his +strong arms. But she broke away, and gathering up the pitcher and +platter prepared to go. + +"There is just one thing," she said hesitatingly, "your despatches--?" +He tapped his forehead. Again she paused irresolutely, the colour coming +and going in her delicate cheeks. "I am saving you, not your despatches; +do you understand?" + +"You do not mean--?" + +"Yes, I mean that Greene must learn nothing from you if you escape." + +But his hand was over her mouth before she could go on. "You cannot make +a request so unworthy of you and of me! Think you for one instant that I +would buy my safety with the information that may save my comrades? No, +no, Joscelyn dear; you did not ask such a thing of me, for you would not +dishonour me, although you say you do not love me. I make no such +bargain with you; either I carry my despatches to my general, or I walk +out of your house this minute, and let the first ball that can hit me +put an end to my life." + +His hand was on the door, but she dragged him back; her face like ashes. +"No, no, Richard; I will not ask it--indeed, I will not!" + +Silently he kissed the hand upon his sleeve, and as they stood thus +looking into each other's eyes, there came a sharp rapping at the door +below. She went deathly pale for a moment, then waving him back, she +stepped out into the hallway. + +"It is only mother," she said, after listening a moment; "she has been +over to Aunt Clevering's to make my peace for last night's rudeness. +What I said was in desperation; I know not what evil genius put me to +it." + +He took her hand reverently for a moment. "'Twas no evil genius, but a +brave spirit of self-sacrifice." + +She locked the door, and went down the stair singing. At the foot she +called out, "Coming, mother!" and ran to hide the dishes she carried, +then back to the door and undid it, still singing her merry ditty. + +"Why should you bolt the door, my daughter, seeing I was to be gone only +a few minutes?" + +"I was upstairs straightening things a bit, and the town is so full of +confusion that I felt a trifle nervous." + +"But here was the sentinel to protect you." + +"Oh, I quite forgot him!" she smiled with deprecating politeness at the +sentinel, who had paused at the steps and was watching her with an ugly +frown upon his sullen face. He touched his hat with a shrug, and moved +on upon his beat. + +But a new terror came to the girl; evidently the man suspected her, and +of course his suspicion would be carried to Tarleton. Why had she +lingered upstairs talking with Richard? Everything she did worked the +wrong way. Would the day never end? She strove to make amends for her +false step by singing Tory songs as she went about the house, and by +sending the guard a dainty luncheon. It was perhaps an hour before she +remembered to ask her mother the result of her interview with Aunt +Clevering. + +"Oh, but I had a sad scene of it! Joscelyn, your tongue will be the ruin +of us; I know it, I know it! Neighbour after neighbour has taken offence +at your outspoken Toryism; and now Ann Clevering, dear to me as a +sister, says she hopes you will never darken her door again. And if you +go not, why, neither can I; and so I am cut off from my best friend by +your unneighbourly caprice! And think what we have been to each other!" +Here sobs choked the unhappy woman's utterance, and she could only turn +her eyes reproachfully upon her daughter. + +Joscelyn was deeply moved, as she always was, to wound her mother; but +she put the best face possible on it in order to cheer the disconsolate +old lady. + +"There, mother dear, 'tis not worth crying over. Not go to see Aunt +Clevering because I cannot go? Why, that is nonsense. Of course you will +go, and she will come here just the same. I will keep out of her way +until she forgives me--for she will forgive me, never you fear. I am not +surprised at her anger, but it will all come out right in the end; so +don't cry, little mother, you break my heart with your tears." + +But in her heart was serious question whether she would ever again be +received upon friendly footing in the house over the way, which had been +to her as a second home. She would never tell that she had made that +speech to turn inquiry from her own house, where Richard was hiding; and +she now doubted much if he would escape to tell the story himself. She +sang no more that afternoon, but sat silently over her knitting. The +weather did not tend to mend her spirits; for the drizzle of the morning +had turned into a steady downpour, and the wind moaned about the gables +and up the throat of the wide chimney like a lost spirit hopelessly +seeking its reincarnation. Her mother was still brooding over the break +with the Cleverings, and now and then lifting her kerchief to her face +in a gesture that was a reproach to Joscelyn, who strove not to see it; +and yet she watched for it persistently out of the tail of her eye. She +grew more miserable each moment; and so hailed with delight the entrance +of Barry and a fellow-officer, who had come to bask in the warmth of her +smile. + +"Your visit is a charity, gentlemen," she said gayly, as she gave them +chairs; "this weather serves one's spirits and one's ruffles alike, in +that it leaves them both limp and frowsy." + +"Your mother seems more out of sorts than you." + +"Yes; mother is doing penance for my sin of last night, Captain Barry." + +"Your sin? Why, methinks you never committed anything more heinous than +a misdemeanour. Come, make me your confessor, and I promise you complete +and immediate absolution." + +"'Tis not your absolution, but Mistress Clevering's that I need; she has +excommunicated me for telling of the attic closet," she spoke with an +air of mock penitence that set her visitors off in a roar. + +But Mistress Cheshire stopped them with a fresh burst of tears, "'Tis no +matter for jesting with me, sirs. I am a subject of King George and wish +him well, but he cannot take the place of Ann Clevering in my heart!" + +"True, true," said Joscelyn, still with her air of pretence, only now it +was playful; "she loves her king, but, you see, she lives not neighbours +with him; and so, forsooth, she cannot compare her loaves with his on a +baking day, nor ask the loan of his pie pans, nor offer her mixing bowl +in return. Ah, gentlemen, there is a homely charm in proximity of which +the poets wot not!" + +And so the talk ran on for a few minutes, and the visitors agreed they +had never found Mistress Joscelyn so charming or so witty. Then they +fell to talking of the military news, of Tarleton's determination to +ferret out the hidden spy, and of the burning of the Reverend Hugh +McAden's library by that division of the army stationed at Red House, a +few miles distant. To all of the first she listened with an outward show +of indifference, but with an inward quaking. The other news interested +her less; but for obvious reasons was also less embarrassing. + +"I pray you, Captain Barry, why should the soldiers burn the reverend +gentleman's library? 'Twas innocent enough, and he himself has been dead +this twelvemonth." + +"Well, they found from his books he was a Presbyterian; and being that, +he must perforce be also a rebel." + +"And they consigned his books to the same fate they believed him to be +enjoying--the fire? Pray you, sir, were the flames _blue_? Being the +very essence of Presbyterianism, they should have been blue, you know." + +"Capital! I shall tell his lordship of your excellent joke." + +She hated herself for her little pleasantry, for she had sincerely +admired the minister, whom she had known since childhood; but she must +keep up a show of gayety, that these young men might carry a good report +of her to headquarters. + +With the growing cloudiness the day was visibly shortened. Joscelyn, +glancing now and then at the window, watched the going of the light with +secret satisfaction. Already the opposite houses were becoming +indistinct, and as the shadows grew apace, just in proportion did her +spirits rise; the danger was drifting away, and the man upstairs now had +a chance for life. But just as she was congratulating herself that the +ordeal was past, there came a trampling of hoofs at the door; and +Tarleton's voice, giving some order, made her realize that the crisis +had perchance but just now come. For one awful moment the power of +motion forsook her; then with a masterly effort at calmness, she +said:-- + +"Mother, entertain the gentlemen while I see why Samuel does not bring +the lights." + +She managed to walk with becoming leisure to the parlour door; but once +outside she almost flew up the stairs. Down on her knees before the fire +in her room, she wrote rapidly upon a scrap of paper:-- + + "Be ready. Tarleton has come. They shall search _my room first_; + that must be your refuge. When I open the attic door, stand thou + close behind it; I will direct attention to the chest and shelves + at the far end--then, if any, is your chance." + +She rose to her feet; the hall below was full of manly voices, above +which her mother called, "Joscelyn, Joscelyn, come at once, here are +more visitors." + +"Yes, mother." Then with a crash she dropped the key basket, which she +had snatched up, just in front of the attic door, and while gathering up +the spilled keys with one hand, she slipped the note under the door with +the other, and instantly felt it grasped and drawn away to the other +side. She knew Richard could read it by means of his tinder-box. Then +flinging the keys into the basket, she ran downstairs. As she entered +the parlour, and saw before the hearth the short, square figure of +Tarleton, the tremor passed out of her limbs. All day she had been +starting and quaking; now in the presence of the real danger, she +was calm and collected. She greeted the colonel with a fair show of +hospitality, and fell immediately to talking of those ill-fated volumes +of McAden. It was anything to gain time that the last lingering daylight +might go. Tarleton let her run on for a few minutes, even let Barry +repeat her poor little joke about the blue flames; then he cleared his +throat and began:-- + +"Mistress Joscelyn, it behooves--" + +But she interrupted him. "Why, dear me, did not mother give you a cup of +tea? You must have one at once to kill that cold in your throat. What a +terrible ride you must have had to-day in this storm. A soldier's life +is indeed a hard one, and nobly does he win the fame which illumines his +name! Two lumps, or three? Ah, you have a sweet tooth." + +But she could not stave him off after he had drained his cup. She wanted +to tell him how they came by the tea since the tax had stopped its sale, +but he cut her short. + +"Another time, Mistress Joscelyn, I shall be glad to listen to your +story, which is no doubt an interesting one. But just now I have graver +matters to discuss with you." + +"Grave matters with me?" she repeated, with feigned surprise and a +ripple of laughter that was like the tinkle of a silver bell. "That is +an unusual kind of discussion for a soldier to hold with a woman. Are +you going to ask my advice about your morning coffee or your next +campaign? But I pray you, sir, proceed; I am all attention." + +There was not a glimmer of daylight through the unshuttered window-sash. +She felt the sinews in her hands and arms grow like iron, and her pulses +beat with the perfection of rhythm. So does a great crisis sometimes +steady a woman's nerves. + +The short colonel rocked himself from toe to heel a moment as he looked +at her half in unbelief, half in admiration of her coolness. Truly she +was superb. Then he said:-- + +"The spy of yesterday has not been taken." + +"So these gentlemen were telling me," smiling over at Barry. + +"But it is most important to the safety of our command and the good of +our cause that he be found--dead or alive." + +She merely nodded, never taking her steady gaze from his face. + +"That he could have gotten out of the town is impossible. My men ran him +in from the west side, over the bridge of the Eno. The sentinels were at +their posts upon the north, east, and south sides of the village; he +could not have passed them without detection." + +Again he paused; and finding that something was expected of her she +said, in a most matter-of-fact way, "I see." + +"Then the only conclusion to come to is, that he is still in the town. +Well, now, every house in this vicinity, where he was last seen, has +been thoroughly searched save yours. I have talked with Lord +Cornwallis--" + +She stood up suddenly, with a dignity of movement that well-nigh +disconcerted him. "I pray you, Colonel Tarleton, cut your explanation +short." + +"Then in short, madam, I have here an order from his lordship to examine +your house and premises." + +She stretched out her hand for the paper silently, imperiously. + +Barry had risen and come to her side. + +"You will see," Tarleton made haste to add, "that your own loyalty is +not impugned. The paper states explicitly that it is not believed you +have any knowledge of the man's whereabouts; but it is thought possible +he may have concealed himself secretly in your house. I have spoken to +his lordship, and--" + +"It were unnecessary to say so--I know full well, without the telling, +who has so poisoned his lordship's mind against me. Every man, woman, +and child in this community knows that I have never wavered in my +allegiance to the king. I have been a target for Whig criticism, almost +of persecution, because of that allegiance--and this is my reward!" she +struck the paper sharply with her other hand. "Well, sir, I recognize +the source!" she turned her eyes scornfully upon the man on the rug. + +Tarleton ground his teeth, but his private orders were to use the lady +with all gentleness, and he knew how to obey--under provocation. He +began some sullen disclaimer, but she broke in imperiously:-- + +"Enough, sir; such paltry excuses weary me. Let us to business." + +"You interpose no objection?" + +"None, sir. In this house the mandates of his majesty's representatives +are obeyed. Let me see; is it your wish to begin upstairs? Very well. +Perhaps these gentlemen will be kind enough to watch the stair; the +flight below the landing comes down just at this door." + +"May I not come with you?" pleaded Barry, who was loath to have her out +of his sight with the brusque colonel, lest some rude word be spoken to +her,--a discourtesy he would have been hot to revenge even upon his +superior officer. + +Tarleton nodded assent, but Joscelyn laughingly interposed, "Nay, good +captain, your boots show the effects of the weather; it would grieve my +mother's housewifely heart to know they were leaving their impress upon +her carpets. Wait here and guard the stair--are we three not enough to +capture one?" She pointed as she spoke from herself and Tarleton to his +orderly who had been standing at attention just inside the door. "I take +it, Colonel Tarleton, that we shall be sufficient?" He bowed; and +thrusting her knitting into her pocket, she moved out of the room, +followed by the officer and his orderly. "Mother, look you to the +comfort of these other guests; I shall return presently." + +There was a threat in Barry's eyes as they met Tarleton's in a fleeting +glance; but he merely saluted in silence as that officer passed out. One +day Tarleton should pay for this needless offence to a girl so +unprotected and so beautiful. It was most evident from her bearing to +see that she had nothing to fear from an investigation. Yes, one day he +should pay for it. + +In the hall Joscelyn stopped to pick up the key-basket and the one +candle in its tall brass candlestick. Thus did she leave the lower hall +unlighted save from the open parlour door, for she wanted no radiance +thrown upward to the story above. She talked unceasingly as they mounted +the steps, raising her voice presumably to over-top the noise of the +heavy boots, but really as a warning to the man hiding above. Not for a +moment did she allow herself to consider the probably fatal outcome of +this search. She needed every faculty of mind and body to meet the +moments as they came. In the narrow upper entry she paused and lifted +her candle; a few chairs, a spinning-wheel, and a table formed its only +furniture. A cat could scarcely have hidden there. + +"Proceed, I pray you," said Tarleton, after one glance around. + +Three doors opened on this passage; the nearest of these, which was the +one toward the front, she threw open. The white bed, the frilled +curtains, the dainty toilet articles upon the dresser, were heralds +enough to proclaim the occupant. Even Tarleton hesitated. + +"To search here were useless." + +"Nay, sir; I insist that you carry out your instructions." + +She placed the candle on the table and waited haughtily while the +inspection was made, nodding toward the wardrobe, "Open the doors and +see if Betty Clevering knew whereof she spoke." + +"There is no one here," said Tarleton, following her instructions, his +big hand looking awkward enough among the pretty feminine garments. She +picked up the light and opened the connecting door to her mother's room. +Tarleton went with her first, however, nodding to the orderly to return +by way of the passage, that none might creep by that means from the +rear. + +"An excellent precaution; I had not thought of it," said Joscelyn, +detecting the unspoken order. + +There was a bright fire on her mother's hearth, and she stood as though +warming herself while the two men made their investigation. Her manner +was so perfectly frank and unconcerned that Tarleton began to curse +himself for a fool. At headquarters the other officers had opposed his +plan, laughing at the evidence his guards had gathered--a little mud on +a trellis in rainy weather, a locked door when a woman was left alone in +her house in such troublous times! Truly, the short colonel was +over-credulous to attach any significance to such trifles. Only by the +most masterly persuasion had he wrung that order from Cornwallis. He did +not relish the laugh he knew his failure would provoke, so he lingered +somewhat in this room, examining the closet, and making the orderly +climb up and look to see that no one was hidden on top of the tall +tester. Finally, he announced himself satisfied. + +Joscelyn's hands were like ice as she took up the light and led the way +into the hall, and there stopped in front of the attic door. + +"This is the only other apartment on this floor. It is the attic over +the pantry and kitchen, and extends to the right the length of this hall +and of mother's room, which you have just quitted. There is no other +entrance but this door in the corner, as you will see." + +"Take the light, orderly," said Tarleton, as she turned over the keys in +the basket. This was not what she wanted, but she yielded it without a +demurrer. + +The key turned easily, and opening the door she stepped in, still +keeping her hand upon the knob, which action brought her within a foot +and a half of the wall behind. Still holding the door and facing about +she pointed down the long, narrow apartment. + +"Will you make yourselves at home, gentlemen?" + +Tarleton's spirits rose; the shadows and heaped-up odds and ends in the +far side of the room seemed a covert for noble game. There was no +furniture at this end against which the door opened, only bags of seed +and dried peppers and herbs hanging along the wall in rear of the +girlish figure. His quick glance took this in; then motioning his +orderly to follow, he went down the length of the apartment, the light +glinting on the pistols in each man's hand. On the shelves were +carefully folded piles of bedclothes, and behind the chest a smooth roll +of carpet powdered with dust. The hair trunks and the broken bureau gave +up no guest, nor did the deep shelves reveal anything suspicious. + +All this while a hand had been plucking at Joscelyn's skirt, but +Tarleton had kept his side face to her so that any action was +impossible. Now, however, he called sharply to his aide to place the +candle on the floor and help him search the big chest, remarking in a +low tone that "Caskets like that sometimes held living jewels." + +Joscelyn laughed. "Then will it be in the shape of mice, of which +capture I wish you joy. A rat hunt is noble sport for one of his +Majesty's gallant officers!" + +As she intended it should, this speech but spurred Tarleton on to +greater exertions. They would soon be coming back to the door, and she +dared not risk the closing of it with what she knew was behind. But +there was not much time left for action; for, obeying orders, the aide +placed the candle on the floor, and opening the lid of the chest began +overhauling the contents; his chief's back was also toward the door. +Now, if at all, was the moment for action. Joscelyn's hand had been on +the yarn ball in her pocket; quick as a flash it was out and the thread +snapped apart. The floor slanted straight from her to the candle. With a +deft cast she sent the noiseless ball down the room; it struck the +narrow-bottomed candlestick, which careened and rocked over--and the +next moment the room was in total darkness. + +A cry broke from her and Tarleton simultaneously; his was an oath upon +the orderly, hers a nervous relaxation of the strain that had been upon +her. + +"Colonel Tarleton, come quickly and guard the door whilst I find another +light!" she cried, suppressing the dry sob in her throat; for in the +momentary darkness she had felt a warm body crush past her on its way to +the hall. + +But at that instant the orderly found his tinder-box. + +[Illustration: "'I HAVE SEEN NO HUMAN BEING SAVE OUR PARTY OF THREE.'"] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THWARTED. + + "They laugh who win." + --SHAKESPEARE. + + +As the candle kindled under the orderly's hand Tarleton, who had sprung +toward the door, found himself within a foot of Joscelyn, whom the light +revealed standing in the open doorway with a hand lifted to either +lintel. + +"You find me guarding the postern, colonel," she said, smiling, although +her very knees were shaking under her with nervous trepidation. + +"How came the light to go out?" he demanded angrily. + +"Surely, that is a matter for you to explain. I was far from it at this +end of the room," she answered coldly. Then presently added, "Perchance +'twas struck by some of the things you threw out of the chest; or did +the orderly jar the plank on which it sat? You see the floor is quite a +loose one. No fourth person could have put it out without my perceiving +him, _and I swear to you I have seen no human being save our party of +three_ since coming up the stair." + +This was the truth; for she had not once glanced behind the door, and +she spoke the words slowly, looking the while straight into Tarleton's +eyes. He turned his searching gaze from her, but evidently he was not +satisfied, for as she moved from the door he snatched the light, and +stepping beyond her, and so on up the hall, looked into both of the +rooms he had recently examined. As he paused at her door with the candle +lifted above his head, the scene swam before Joscelyn's eyes. If he +entered, there would be discovery--murder. It seemed an interminable +minute that he stood thus; then the blood came again to her heart with a +rush, for he turned back from the threshold, and, calling for another +light to leave in the hall, he went again to finish his examination of +the attic. Not a box was left unemptied, not a barrel or chest or shelf +that was not searched as for some tiny object that might secrete itself +in a crack. Joscelyn, leaning against the open door, watched the process +in silence save for occasional mocking suggestions or biting comments, +to most of which he gave no heed. A lurking suspicion of her, added to +his fear of ridicule at headquarters, made him doubly cautious, so that +he never turned his back upon her for an instant, and now and then he +paused and looked at her keenly and curiously; but she only gave him a +satirical laugh for his pains. But the search could not go on forever, +and at last he had to announce that he had finished. Joscelyn longed to +leave the door open, that Richard might creep back; but they had found +it locked, and so, fearful of arousing suspicion, she made no objection +when Tarleton, having looked behind the door, locked it and handed her +the key. On every step of the stair her spirits rose, so that her cheeks +were brilliant and her eyes shining, when at the bottom Barry met them, +and relieving her of her basket and candle, placed them on the table. +There was no need to ask the result of the search; Tarleton's face was a +proclamation of defeat. After a few pleasantries with Barry as to how he +had guarded the steps, and how many ghostly spies he had seen gliding up +or down, Joscelyn opened the dining room door, saying, with a return to +her stately courtesy:-- + +"And now, Colonel Tarleton, we will finish our task, an it please you. +His lordship will be consumed with impatience for your return." + +Sullenly Tarleton followed her lead; he intercepted the glance she shot +at Barry, and felt himself a butt for her ridicule, and his temper was +not improved thereby. The ransacked pantries and closets gave up nothing +that was alive except a mouse, at whose wild antics, Joscelyn and Barry +laughed like a couple of children, their mouths full of cake which the +girl had cut from the loaf on the shelf. It was such a relief to laugh, +to do anything to ease the tense strain upon her nerves and composure. +It was raining without, and she sat with Barry by the dining room fire, +while Tarleton and the orderly investigated the cellar and the +outbuildings. Those few moments alone with her finished the subjugation +of the young man's heart. He knew that for him there could be no +happiness in the future unless she shared it with him; and he was +telling her so in hesitating whispers--for his very earnestness had made +him shy and awkward--when the return of the searching party put an end +to the interview. + +Joscelyn stood upon the veranda as Tarleton mounted for the ride, and +cried out with her tantalizing mockery:-- + +"Commend me to his lordship, and say that you came upon a fool's errand, +and carry back but the fruit of such a quest." + +She would have said more, but her mother plucked her by the sleeve with +frightened command; and so with an enchanting change of manner she +turned to Captain Barry, who had lingered on the step, and begged that +he would ere long give them again the pleasure of his company. Her words +were meant more as a rebuff to Tarleton by contrast with the sharp +things she had said to him; but the younger officer construed them into +an acknowledged preference for himself, and his quick pulses throbbed +with a foretaste of that sweetest victory a man can win--the capture +of a beloved woman's heart. As he rode away with his companion, he knew +not if it still rained or was clear; the mud of the streets might have +been drifts of bright-hued blossoms for all the notice he gave it; even +his resentment against Tarleton was forgotten in this sweet dream of +love which, amid the shadows of war, had suddenly opened before him +as a flower unfolds its petals to the dawn. At supper with his +fellow-officers, he heard none of the jests upon Tarleton's failure of +the evening, so busy was he recalling every word and look of the girl +who in one short week had made the world as a new creation for him. The +time for his wooing would be short, and the morrow was too remote for +his impatient heart; and so ere another hour went by he was again +knocking at her door. Much to his chagrin, he found other guests before +him, for hardly had he quitted the house ere Mary Singleton arrived and +announced that she meant to tarry all night. + +"Eustace and some of his friends are coming later; so, my dear, you must +let me run upstairs at once and change this damp gown for something more +comfortable and becoming. When you see who is with Eustace, you will +understand why I want to look so charming. My maid has my bag in the +kitchen. Come." + +Another menace! Would she never be free from discovery, Joscelyn +wondered. And taking her friend by the shoulders, she pushed her +playfully into the parlour. + +"'Tis easy enough to guess who is coming, by the happiness in your eyes. +But there, go make your duty to mother while I have a fire kindled in my +room; then shall you make yourself as beautiful as a dream ere it runs +to a nightmare." + +Upstairs she raced, stopping in the hall only long enough to unlock the +attic door. In her room was a slight noise; and she was about to call +Richard softly, when by the fireplace she perceived the maid blowing the +coals into a blaze. + +"That will do, Peggy. Go down at once and get a pair of your dry shoes +for Mistress Singleton's maid, that she may shortly be ready to help her +mistress dress." + +Peggy obeyed; and then Joscelyn heard her name called, and saw the +curtains of the bed-tester shaken as by some one standing behind them, +and Richard's head and shoulders came to view. Answering the look in his +eloquent eyes, she put out her hand with a quick impulse to meet his; +but at that moment the door was flung open, and Mary rushed in. + +"They have come already, and 'tis as much as my chances with Edward +Moore are worth to have him see me in this garb; so I fled for my life," +she cried, laughing and panting together. + +Joscelyn dared not look toward the bed curtain; surely, the fates had +combined against her! She stood quite still and let Mary run on with her +confidences concerning young Moore, salving her conscience with the +thought that a second listener could not matter when a human life was at +stake. But when Mary, too intent upon the mirror to look at the bed, +shook down her hair and began deliberately to unfasten her bodice, +Joscelyn grew desperate. She could not permit this. + +"Wait until--until the fire burns, Mary," she cried, that she might +gain a few minutes to think. But Mary only laughed and went on +unhooking, raving about blue eyes and a tall figure; to all of which +Joscelyn agreed, striving to fasten the hooks again until Mary pushed +her off in a small pet. Then, with a last frantic effort, she upset, +with a palpably awkward movement of her elbow, a pitcher that stood on +the dresser; and as the deluge of water came down she cried to Mary to +go at once to her mother's room, where was a better fire, and she would +follow with her things. It was a most open bit of acting, without a +shadow of plot or diplomacy; but Mary was too intent upon her love +affair to notice, and so went obediently into the next room, talking +still of Edward Moore. As Joscelyn gathered up some ribbons and lace +from the bed, she whispered as though to the curtained post:-- + +"The attic door is open--there is no one in the hall." + +Then did the post seem suddenly alive, for a hand caught hers, and a +voice full of love and gratitude said in her ear:-- + +"God bless you! Good-by." + +Ten minutes later, trying the attic door, she found it locked from +within; and, leaving Mary in the hands of the maid, she went down the +stair with a light heart, for the day's trials were over at last, and +she might cease to wrack her brain for expedients and deceptions. Other +guests had followed Barry, and the house was soon full of echoing +laughter and snatches of song, with the low hum of conversation, like +the ripple of a brook, running ceaselessly underneath the lighter +sounds. + +As soon as Joscelyn laid eyes on Eustace she knew something was amiss, +and he was not long in letting her know what it was, upbraiding her +bitterly for her cruel speech of last night. + +"You were not content that those rude men were searching her house, but +must add to her humiliation. What demon of cruelty possessed you?" + +"It was the meanest thing I ever did," she said, with something like a +sob; "and, Eustace, if you can only get Betty to forgive me, there is +nothing I will not do for you." + +"Small chance I have to win forgiveness for you or favour for myself," +he answered gloomily. "I wish I had been here last night; she should +have known she had at least one friend, though I lost my commission by +it. Only once have I seen her, and then but for ten minutes, with her +mother freezing the life out of us with her cold stare." + +"If I arrange a meeting between this and your departure, will you spare +a few moments from your wooing to plead for me?" + +"Yes; but can you do it?" + +"Slip away up to mother's room and write her a note; I will see that she +gets it this night," and, mollified, he went. + +Upstairs in the attic, shivering under the blankets behind the big +chest, Richard hearkened to the subdued echoes of gayety from below and +went over thoughtfully the events of the day. All the morning and +afternoon he had felt the nets closing about him, and when he read +Joscelyn's hasty warning he knew that death stood at his elbow. Not that +hope died, but what could hope do in such straights? He made ready as +she bade him, folding the blankets and straightening the carpet, putting +his boots into a barrel under a lot of old shoes and odds and scraps. +Then with his ear to the door, he had waited for what seemed a dragging +age. Always his care was for Joscelyn. Even when, during the search, the +door was opened, and he stood crushed against the wall with his would-be +captors and murderers not six feet away, the uppermost thought in his +mind was for her, anxiety for her safety, admiration for her magnificent +courage. Slipping out of the room in that momentary darkness, he had +felt like a traitor deserting the thing on earth dearest to him, and had +cursed the fate that sent him away. But the supreme moment came when, +crouching by her bed, he saw through the tester curtain the British +officer pause in the door with his lifted light. One step out into the +room, and the flimsy curtain could not have hidden the figure of the man +behind it. On that one more step hung life or death. Breathless, Richard +waited, his unsheathed dirk in his hand. He knew this man,--hated as no +other Englishman was hated through the length and breadth of the +land,--standing thus unconscious of any danger, was utterly within his +power. One strong upward blow where the heart was left uncovered by the +lifted arm, and the cause of American liberty would lose one of its +deadliest enemies. But the guards below, the soldiers swarming in the +street--and Joscelyn! At thought of her the murderous instinct in his +soul was quelled, and without so much as a relaxed muscle, he saw +Tarleton turn from the room. Then he had hidden himself more carefully +and waited for her coming. Mistaking for her the maid who came to light +the fire, he was near to self-betrayal; and he could not remember how he +had gotten out of sight when later on Mary burst into the room; but +lying now at full length under the sloping rafters, he smiled at the +measures Joscelyn had used to dispose of her, recognizing that subtle +loyalty which would, in dire straits, give up a friend's love secret to +another, but would not without an effort sacrifice that friend's +modesty. + +Brave girl, what a spirit and resolution were hers! And yet he had seen +her cry over a dead wren and flinch from the sight of his hunting-gun. +And how many trials and perils he had drawn upon her by his presence, +although if taken he had resolved to live only long enough to proclaim +her blameless. Well, when the revel down below should be over, he would +steal away, for he would be a source of danger to her no more. And, +besides, Greene needed his information. He must face his fate and take +what chances he might; that was a scout's fate and duty; and so he +planned his course. By and by he left his couch and stood at the door to +try and separate Joscelyn's voice from the medley of sounds that made +their way up to him; the least scrap of a sentence would be as balm to +his aching heart. But he listened long in vain; all was a confused +babble; then suddenly a voice called her, and she answered clearly that +she was sitting on the stair with Captain Barry. And somebody said, "Of +course." And then there was a general laugh that somehow set Richard's +blood in a strange tingle of pain. + +So she was sitting there just below him, within sight if he but dared to +crack the door. And such a longing came upon him that he did turn the +key and made a little opening, and saw the back of her head and her +scarlet bodice as she bent down to some one sitting below her. A keen +jealousy smote him; who was her companion, was he handsome or homely? Of +course he was making love to her; no one could look that close into her +eyes and not love her. And she,--was she smiling with the sweet shyness +he loved but wanted no other man to see? It was only by a supreme effort +of will that he dragged himself away and fastened the door again. Would +they never go, those idle gossiping people with their thoughts absorbed +by pleasure and merriment--never go and let her come to him for just one +minute of divine joy? How he hated them all for staying; and above all, +how he hated that man on the stairs whispering his heart into her ear. + +Presently there came the clatter of dishes, and then he remembered he +had had no supper and it must be close upon midnight. With the coming of +the dark the wind had risen and the garret was bitterly cold; but busy +with plans for his escape and with thoughts of her, he scarcely noticed +how stiff and numb his limbs were. + +An hour later there were calls of "good-by," and the sound of opening +and closing doors below, mingled with shrill feminine voices calling for +wraps, and out in the street the stamping of horses. Then silence +reigned, and he knew the guests had departed. Presently there was a slow +tread upon the stairs, and Mistress Cheshire called back some directions +to those below. Then a lighter, quicker step followed, and Mary +Singleton went singing to Joscelyn's room. Fifteen, perhaps twenty +minutes of intense silence went by, and then a slender thread of light +shone under the door; and so faint as to be almost inaudible, a tap fell +on the panel. Quickly as possible he drew the bolt and opened the door, +but only just in time to see Joscelyn enter her own room and close the +door. On a table, in reach of his hand, stood a shaded candle and beside +it was his supper. It was for this she had called him; but hungry as he +was, he forgot it in his bitter disappointment that he was not to speak +to her. Time pressed, however, and soon he was back in the attic, +devouring the food she had left. Particularly grateful to him was the +mug of steaming hot tea. + +"Tax or no tax, it cheers me up, temptress that you are, sweet +Joscelyn. Perchance a Continental toast may override the Royalist +poison lurking in it, and so I pledge Nathaniel Greene and his trusted +scout--particularly the scout." He laughed softly as he drained the cup. + +Physically he was strengthened and warmed for the flight before him, but +his heart was heavy with disappointment and dread. Once he abandoned the +idea of attempting to escape; the house had been searched and the guard +removed, therefore he was safer here than anywhere else, and he must see +her before he went. But more unselfish council prevailed; it was not his +safety only that must be considered. The knowledge he had gained would +be of inestimable value to Greene; the going of the guard left the way +open to him, and it was duty, not personal inclination, that must +dictate his course. + +He waited until the tall clock below chimed one, and then made ready for +his departure. He had resolved not to tell Joscelyn of his plans even if +he might have spoken with her, for he wanted her sleep troubled by no +anxiety for him; but the yearning of his heart found expression in the +farewell he left upon the senseless panels of her door. Then, boots in +hand, he crept downstairs and into the dining room. Here the rear door +fastened with a latch, the string of which was drawn inside at night. +Softly he stepped out, closing it behind him, and stood a moment pushing +the string back through its hole, that those behind might be safe; then, +hugging the fence, he crept to the gate and was soon in the alley +outside. The darkness, the soft mud, and the howling wind were all in +his favour. He knew his way even in the gloom, and so, making now and +then a detour to avoid a public street or a possible sentry post, he +came at last to the outskirts of the town, keeping always in the +direction opposite the British camp. The bridge he knew must be well +guarded, and so must the road over the mountains; hence he kept directly +across the fields to where the river bends under the cliff called +"Lovers' Leap." Ahead of him, behind a clump of bushes, burned a low +fire, and he crept up on hands and knees to hear what the two men +sitting there were saying. One of them was surlily poking the fire:-- + +"If we break camp to-morrow, how the devil can we march over such soggy +roads?" + +"The Guildford road is not so bad," was the answer; and although Richard +waited a long time, he heard nothing else. And so like a ghost he crept +into the drifting rain and soon gained the river, repeating to himself +that last sentence which might be the keynote to the British movements. + +His knowledge of the country folk stood him in good stead, for soon he +was untying a canoe from a gum tree not far from a lonely cabin. Often, +when a boy, he had gone with the owner fishing in this boat, tying it up +to the tree roots when the day's sport was done. The river was turbulent +from the recent downpour, and in the darkness he went further +down-stream than he intended; but at last he drew into a cove of weeds +and reeds, and leaving the boat there he plunged into the forest beyond. +But he was not lost, and ere the dawn came he had found a friend, and +well mounted he pressed on to carry the news he had gathered to the +American camp; and as he rode, he thought always and with a gnawing +bitterness of the view he had had of Joscelyn's head as she bent down to +catch the love words of that invisible suitor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +GOOD-BY, SWEETHEART. + + "Yet all my life seems going out + As slow I turn my face about + To go alone another way, to be alone + Till life's last day, + Unless thy smile can light the way!" + --ANON. + + +In the early morning, before the family were astir, Joscelyn dressed +herself hurriedly and went to the attic door. It was ajar. With a quick +premonition of evil, she entered and whispered Richard's name. No answer +came; no one was there. Then the truth flashed upon her--he had gone, +risking everything rather than further expose her to discovery and its +dire results. How chivalric, and yet how insane! Of course he would be +captured, or else he would perish with cold and hunger this bitter +winter weather. She looked about carefully; not a scrap of a note had he +left to say good-by. She had not dared to wait to speak with him last +night, lest Mary discover them; but now she reproached herself, feeling +that she might have prevented this mad mistake. She had meant to come +back after all was quiet, but Mary talked so long that for very shame +she had not dared to do so, dreading his man's judgment of a visit at +such an hour. + +She was now in a nervous tremor, and feared to have the maids come in, +lest they announce that the spy had been taken; and when they came but +said naught of it, she began to look for news from outsiders. Several +times during the morning meal she glanced across to Aunt Clevering's +house with such a tempestuous pity for the old lady's coming sorrow that +her eyes shone with tears; and her mother, seeing them, thought that +it was sorrow for the estrangement she had wrought between the two +families, and resolved to tell Ann Clevering about it. + +"Come, Joscelyn," said Mary, looking up from her plate, "an you eat no +breakfast and keep your mouth pulled down at the corners like that, +we'll be thinking Captain Barry left unsaid the things he should have +said last night." + +"I know not what you think he should have said--but he was very +charming," the girl said, rousing herself. + +"Particularly when you two sat on the stair and whispered so long." + +"The time seemed long to you because just at that time Edward Moore was +talking with Pattie Newsom." + +"Well," answered Mary, tossing her head, "it was quite as long to him, +for he said it seemed years while he was from me." + +"Poor Pattie!" + +But all the time she jested her heart was full; and she kept her eyes on +the opposite house or watched those who passed in the street to guess, +if possible, if they carried news to the commander's quarters. The rain +had passed in the night, but toward dawn the wind had crystallized it +into sleet, so that in the sun the ice-dight world sparkled like a jewel +catching the light upon its many facets and kindling each with a +different flame; everywhere was a brilliant silvery glisten with gleams +of amethyst and agate, ochre and opal like momentary meteors in the +marvellous dazzle. What a day to be hunted across country like a wild +animal by human bloodhounds! What a day to die by a bullet, or, worse +still, on yonder historic hill as the Regulators died! + +The hours wore on, and still no tidings came. Joscelyn went restlessly +from room to room, unable to fix her attention upon anything. It was +close upon ten o'clock when the thud of hoofs resounded outside, and a +minute after Barry entered the room. Evidently the news he brought was +of a gloomy character, for his face was clouded. + +"The spy--they have caught him!" Joscelyn cried, leaning heavily on her +chair. + +"The spy? What do you mean--what is the matter that you are so pale?" +The solicitude in his voice was not unmixed with a curious surprise. +Then when she hesitated over her answer, he said; coming quite close to +her, "Why are you so interested in this spy?" + +Then in a moment she was herself again. "They say it was he who saved +my life on the commons; should I be true to my womanhood if I dismissed +him from my thoughts? I tell you frankly I wish him well." + +She returned his gaze quietly, and he took her hand with a deference +that was an apology. "And I, too, wish him well for that service, no +matter what he may have carried to his general to our undoing--for he +has not been taken. I am a soldier and a servant of the king, but in my +heart of hearts your safety is more than the safety of Lord Cornwallis's +whole command." + +His reward was a dazzling smile and an invitation to sit with her upon +the sofa, which action brought him within a foot of her. He longed to +lessen even that distance, but comforted himself with the thought that +his hand might creep to hers at the first softening of her manner. + +"What made you think I brought news of the spy?" + +"You were so grave I thought naught but an execution could be in +progress." + +"It is indeed a kind of execution, for this is to be my good-by," he +said sadly. "We march in two hours; already camp is broken, and +preparations are being made." + +"And this decision was reached--?" + +"Late last night at a council of officers. This spy has carried away +information about our position that Greene could use to our defeat; +that, with other reasons, brought about the decision. I did not sleep +one moment for thinking of leaving you." + +"And the search for the spy is given over?" + +"Yes." + +She could not repress a sigh of relief, but he did not so interpret it. +Mary had withdrawn to the window, and her mother had left the room; they +two might as well have been alone. + +"My God, how I shall miss you!" cried the young fellow at last, +desperately. "You see I never loved a woman before, and so I know not +how to bear this parting." + +"You are a soldier," she said gently. "A soldier endures any pain +manfully." + +"Yes, but no sword thrust ever hurt like this. You are glad you have met +me?" + +"Very glad." + +"And you will miss me and think of me sometimes?" + +"Many times." + +"And when the war is over, I may come back and--and claim your love?" + +He had taken her hand, and she could not at once draw it away, for a +strange hesitation was upon her. "I cannot promise," she said at last. +"Ten days ago I did not know you." + +"Yes, but ten hours taught my heart its lesson for life, and war makes +quick wooing." + +She slowly but firmly drew her hand away. "I cannot promise; but I love +no one else." + +"Then I will wait and hope." + +A few minutes later a bugle sent its shrill call down the wind. He +sprang up and hastily shook hands with Mary and Mistress Cheshire, who +had just returned to the room; but, answering his pleading glance, +Joscelyn followed him into the hall that the others might not witness +the emotion of his parting with herself. + +"Try to love me," he said, and was gone; and watching him as he passed +out of sight, she felt that her hands were wet with the boyish tears +that had fallen on them as he carried them to his lips in a fervid +farewell. And suddenly she asked herself what happier fate awaited her +than to accept this love poured out so prodigally at her feet. The +question brought serious thoughts, so Mary found her but dull company +until other visitors arrived to say also their farewells. One of these +brought a note from Lord Cornwallis. Would she not come and witness +their departure? + +"Mother," she said, coming downstairs in her habit, "I shall not be at +home this afternoon; call Betty over to sort her wools out of my +knitting-bag; she will find it on the spinet. And while she works over +it, go you once more to Aunt Clevering's, if you please, and intercede +for me; Betty will not mind being left." + +Thus did she plan to leave the way open to Eustace for a hasty farewell +to his sweetheart. + +A little past noon the drums rolled out their hoarse commands, and the +British army was on the move. An unrestrained excitement ran riot in +the town. There were blaring bugles and flaunting flags, and everywhere +glimmers of red as the corps passed onward. At the head of the British +columns rode Lord Cornwallis, and at his bridle-rein went Mistress +Joscelyn, the picture of good humour and coquetry, with a scarlet +cockade in her hat, and an officer's sash tied jauntily across her +breast from shoulder to waist. The rich colour of the silk brought out +by contrast the sea-blue lights in her eyes and the glossy gleams of her +hair. Men forgot the martial pageant to look at her; and when at the +home pier of the river bridge the staff paused, the salutes from the +passing soldiers were as much for her as for the general beside her. +There the parting came, the officers falling in at the rear of the +troops when the last company had passed over. As Eustace passed +Joscelyn, he lifted the lapel of his coat, on which was a purple +aster,--the like of which grew nowhere save in Betty's dormer +window,--and said with a happy smile:-- + +"Your plan worked well, sweet Joscelyn. Ten minutes of heaven compensate +a man for hours of purgatory. May the fates be as kind to your own +heart." + +But it was Barry who lingered behind the others for one last look and +word, and then went clattering over the bridge, and left the girl to +return to the town with the few Tory women who had dared to share her +ride. They had been bold enough at the start, with all the king's army +at their backs, but to go back unprotected by martial power was quite +another thing; anti-Toryism would now hold sway, and they knew what that +meant; so at the entrance of the town the others turned aside to find +their homes, which fortunately were near at hand. But Joscelyn lived at +the far end of the town, and must needs pass the whole length of King +Street ere she gained her door. + +The street, which for the past week had been almost deserted by the +patriotic townspeople, now swarmed with eager men and women; but +Joscelyn's thoughts were too full of Richard's escape and Barry's wooing +for her to note the angry glances directed toward her. It was not until +she was passing the wooden building that had served Cornwallis as +headquarters for his staff, that she became aware of the hostility she +was exciting. Then a voice called out to her to take off that hated +insignia she wore; and ere she realized what was happening, four or five +boys had surrounded her horse and were snatching at the sash ends that +dangled from her waist. Her anger flamed up to a white heat at this +insult, and she laid about her with her riding-whip until they let her +be. A volley of light missiles followed her as she went on her way, her +horse curbed to a walk because she was too proud to seem to fly. The +same pride kept her from dodging the paper balls and bits of soft mud +that rained around her, and now and then struck her skirts and +shoulders. Thus, looking neither to the right nor the left, she went +slowly onward until a little urchin, springing to the middle of the road +in front of her, shouted insolently:-- + +"Out upon you for a Tory jade!" + +His companions screamed their encouragement, thinking to see her +discomforted; but leaning out of her saddle she said, with that smile +that had played havoc with so many older hearts:-- + +"Thank you, Jamie, for calling me such a beautiful name. Were the +examples I helped you to work last week quite right? You must come again +when you get in trouble over them, that I may save you from another +flogging." + +The boy, remembering her timely aid, drew back abashed, dropping the mud +he had been wadding together in his grimy hand; and taking advantage of +the momentary cessation of hostilities, Joscelyn waved them a laughing +salute and cantered away to her own door. But in the privacy of her room +she broke down and sobbed out the excitement and suspense of the past +two days. The courage which had defied and cheated Tarleton and put the +riotous urchins to shame melted away in that burst of tears, and a +woman-like longing for protection and safety surged through her. If she +might only go away, or if there were but some one to stand between her +and this weary persecution! + +The first object upon which her eyes rested as she lifted her head when +the weeping was past, was that ill-fated scarf with which Barry had +decorated her that morning at headquarters. What a world of meaning +there was in it! Perhaps nothing could so have drawn her heart to the +absent officer as this silent messenger of his love. She folded it away +carefully, lingering a moment ere she shut it from sight to recall those +last words he had whispered in her ear ere he followed his comrades over +the river. All the rest of the day they echoed in her thoughts, calming +her by their earnest tenderness. + +"Betty came for her wools?" she asked her mother at bedtime. + +"Yes. And I forgot to tell you that after I had gone from the house +Eustace Singleton came to say good-by to you. When I returned from +Ann's, I found him in the parlour, where his presence must greatly have +annoyed Betty, for she was red and flustered. I am sure I was sorry, but +I was in no way to blame for her disturbance." And then tearfully she +went on to tell how her mission with Aunt Clevering had again failed. + +The change that came upon Hillsboro' with the going of the British was +as swift as it was pronounced. Where before had been sullen repression +among the people, all was now animation and exuberance of spirits; the +Tories were intimidated, and the place bristled with patriotic +evidences. It was as though a slide had been slipped in a stereopticon, +and a new picture projected upon the canvas. All the talk now ran on +Greene, who had moved down from the Dan and lay upon the heights of +Troublesome Creek, only thirteen miles from where Cornwallis had pitched +his own camp. For nearly two weeks the entire country watched with +panting interest these two generals play their advance-guards and +reconnoitring parties against each other as though they were so many +ivory figures upon a chessboard. Then came the meeting at Guildford +Court-house, the fame of which blew through the land like a sirocco's +breath. + +"Lord Cornwallis has won the game at Guildford," cried Joscelyn. + +"Ay, won it so hard and fast that he has had to run away to hold the +stakes," retorted Mistress Strudwick, equally rejoiced over the British +retreat to Wilmington. + + "Had the militia but done their share, we should have finished + Cornwallis for good," Richard wrote to Joscelyn after the battle. + "But praise be to Heaven, Banastre Tarleton is among the wounded. I + do hope and believe it was my bullet that hit him, for I singled + him out for my aim, remembering his bearing to you and my mother + last month. If so I hear that his wound proves fatal, I shall wear + no mourning." + +And, truth to say, Joscelyn herself sorrowed never a bit over the short +colonel's discomfiture. Later on came another letter:-- + + "We are on the march to the south to aid Marion, Sumter, and + Pickens to snatch South Carolina and Georgia from the foe. We know + of the terrible doings of Arnold in Virginia, and General La + Fayette has been sent to check him, but much I doubt his success. + Ye gods! what a soldier we lost when Arnold went over to the enemy + in that traitorous way. He was the one man in our army who was + Tarleton's match in a raid. If the Marquis catches him, however, I + should like to be at the reckoning. A traitor with the fire of + genius in his veins! At Guildford I looked at his old command, and + said to myself that the day had gone differently had Arnold led + them. Men followed him like sheep to victory or to death. Think you + what a demon it takes to harrow one's country, to fight against + one's own people!" + +As the weeks passed and the spring advanced, Joscelyn's position in the +community grew more irksome, for Tory supremacy was at an end and the +patriotic spirit was dominant. "Only the rudeness of some excited boys," +the older folk had said of the incident of her homeward ride the day the +British withdrew; but it was rather the true index of the public temper +against her, and not a day went by but she was made to feel it keenly. +Never was an occasion to annoy her neglected, until between her and her +neighbours was a bloodless but harassing feud that destroyed utterly the +old harmony and good will. She felt the change bitterly; every neglect +or retort rankled in her thoughts until it became as a fester corrupting +her happiness. But she kept a brave face to the world, and sang her Tory +ballads on the veranda in the soft spring twilights, or as she worked +through the sunny hours in the side yard where no flowers but those that +blossomed red were permitted to blow. And Mistress Strudwick said to her +cronies, with genuine admiration, that twenty Guildfords could not break +the spirit of a girl like that. + +But necessarily the thing that hurt Joscelyn most was Aunt Clevering's +treatment. Not content to be a spectator, she often took the initiative +in the persecution the girl was made to suffer, ignoring her in public +or noticing her only to taunt her with some uncivil word or look. A few +sentences from Joscelyn might have swept away the barriers and restored +the old friendship, but she would not buy her pardon thus. She possibly +might not be believed without the proof of Richard's letter, that first +short, fervid missive he had sent her on the eve of the great battle; +and that she could not show, not even to his own mother, such a heroine +did it make of her, such an ardent, grateful lover of him. Then, too, if +this quarrel with Aunt Clevering should be healed, people would ask +questions, and when the truth should be known she would be in no better +plight--a Tory maid risking everything, even life itself, to hide a +Continental spy! Neither friends nor foes would understand; her motives +would be misinterpreted, her loyalty questioned; and so her last estate +would be no better than her first. Thus did she hold her peace and hide +her tears under cover of darkness, the while by day she sang her daring +little ditties among the growing things of her garden. + +Having been the arch-Royalist of the town, it was but natural that +public resentment should be most pronounced against her. The Singletons +and Moores were less outspoken, and so drew upon themselves less of +contumely. Her caustic speeches, on the contrary, were not forgotten, +until Mistress Strudwick threatened half tearfully, half playfully to +clip her tongue with her sharp scissors. But the chief thing that kept +alive the animosity against her were the letters that came to her now +and then from Cornwallis's camp. She did not deny their reception, but +steadily refused to divulge their contents; and as it was believed that +in one way or another she contrived to answer them, the idea got abroad +that she was in the employ of the British general to keep him posted as +to the state of things in Hillsboro'-town. Nothing else could so have +set the people against her as this supposed espionage, and all through +the advancing summer she felt the weight of their displeasure. Mistress +Bryce openly denounced her, boys shouted disrespectful things under her +window at night, and the shopkeepers so neglected or refused her orders +that, had it not been for Mistress Strudwick, she and her mother would +have suffered; but that good friend stood stanchly by her. So loud were +the outcries against her when she rode abroad that out of deference to +her mother's wishes, and also to save herself from needless +mortification, she never had the saddle put upon her horse. + +And yet innocent enough were those letters that caused so much of +trouble, filled as they were, not with army news, but with a man's +tender love throes,--the vehement pleadings of a heart swayed by its +first grand passion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +BY THE BELEAGUERED CITY. + + "Peace; come away; the song of woe + Is after all an earthy song: + Peace; come away; we do him wrong + To sing so wildly: let us go." + --TENNYSON. + + +The summer seemed interminable, lit all along though it was with the +glimmer of lilies and iridescent gleams of parti-coloured roses. It was +the season of the year which Joscelyn loved best; but now the ceaseless +sunshine, the mosaic marvels of the turf, the kaleidoscopic changes of +earth and sky wearied her, so that she longed for the coming of autumn. +It came at last, unfurling its red and yellow banners in the woodlands, +and setting its russet seal upon the meadows. And with it came the news +of the siege of Yorktown; and the town of Hillsboro' waked to new +enthusiasm and thrilled or shuddered at every alternating rumour. + +And in each of those far-away armies on the York was a man who watched +the sun go westward every eve, and sent a silent message to a girl with +dark hair and sea-blue eyes who pruned her roses in a new garden of the +Hesperides beside the Eno. Unknown to each other, their thoughts had +yet a common Mecca. But fate was not content that they should stand +thus forever apart. + +In Yorktown, Cornwallis had thought to be safe either to escape to +Clinton or be rescued by that general's fleet sailing down the Atlantic +from New York. But instead to the east, in Lynn Haven Bay, De Grasse's +ships held the passes to the sea; while on the land side--one wing on +York and one on Wormley creek--in two great crescents stretched the +lines of the allied armies, with Warwick creek running darkly between. +Over the tents that gleamed in the autumn sunshine there flew, side by +side, the stars and stripes of the Republic and the _fleur-de-lys_ of +France. And there were sallies and repulses, and daily encroachments and +skirmishes between the allies without and the British within. + +It so happened one day that Richard's company was detailed to guard the +ditchers who were making a new trench, and throwing up a fresh line of +breastworks that would enable them to draw yet nearer to the red-coated +pickets. Already these latter had been forced--by the horns of that ever +encroaching crescent--to withdraw twice, and now a third retreat seemed +imminent. But not without a struggle would they yield their posts; and +so presently, on that mellow autumn day, a flash of scarlet came in the +sun as an assaulting column swept out toward the projected line where +the shovels were at work; and the Continental guard, after discharging +their guns with signal success, waited with fixed bayonets to receive +the advancing column. It was a fierce contest fought almost hand to +hand; then the Redcoats began to fall back, and with a quick rush the +Continentals turned their retreat to a rout. + +Returning from that fierce charge with the flush of the fight upon him, +Richard came upon a man lying prone upon his face in the stubble--the +gallant English captain who had led the sally. He had seen him as he +fell far in advance of his column. There the retreat had left him inside +the new lines of the Continentals, and finding him still alive, Richard +turned him over softly so as not to start his wound afresh; and as he +did so he caught one word from the pale lips:-- + +"_Joscelyn._" + +The name unlocked the floodgates of the young Continental's sympathies. + +"Dunn," he said to the man in front of him, "give me a hand, that I may +get this poor fellow to my tent." + +"The surgeon will find him here directly and have him moved to the field +hospital." + +"He could not stand so long a trip; see how near he is already gone with +this bullet hole in his side. Come, I have a fancy not to see him die +here in the wet grass." + +So Dunn lent his aid, and the wounded man was put down in Richard's +tent, murmuring again that talismanic name. + +"He may possibly live till morning," the surgeon said, when at last he +came from attending to his own men, "but he cannot be moved. I will try +and send some one to look after him." + +Richard touched his cap, "If you please, I am off duty to-night; I will +willingly nurse him, if so you give me directions." + +And the man was left in his care; and during the slow hours, word by +word and sentence by sentence, he patched together the fevered ramblings +of his patient, until he knew that the Joscelyn of his own hopes and +fears and dreams was identical with the girl of this other man's +thoughts. + +With the knowledge something seemed to catch at his throat, to tighten +about his heart; and he went out and stood awhile at the tent door, +gazing up into the clear heavens whose steadfast stars were shining also +on the distant Carolina hills, watching a window behind which a girl lay +sleeping--dreaming perhaps of the man yonder on the pallet. Had he lost +her through this other one? Was his life to miss its one strong purpose, +in missing her? + +By and by, when he was calmer, he came again to the pallet where the +dying man lay, and picked up the sword which, along with his own, was +propped against the canvas wall of the tent. It was of beautiful +workmanship with a crest on the jewelled scabbard, and below a graven +name which, by the light of the tallow dip, Richard at last spelled +out:-- + +"Barry." + +He stood thinking for a moment. Why, this then was the man for whom +Ellen Singleton had mistaken him that night he played the squire to her +in a borrowed military cloak at the fete in Philadelphia. What strange +fate had brought them thus together? "The finest officer who wears the +red, and a lady-killer," Dunn had said. And that tightness gathered +again at Richard's heart, for where else had he heard of the man? + +Stay, was not Barry the name--Yes, it was the very name he had heard +coupled with Joscelyn's that night while he lay hiding in the freezing +attic. "She is sitting on the stair with Captain Barry." The very tones +of the speaker came back to him, bringing again that thirsty desire to +open the door and look for her which he had not been able to resist, +though life itself might pay the forfeit. + +He went back to the pallet, and bent down that he might see the face of +his patient. So this was the man who had won her away from the rest of +her company, the man to whom she had bent down so low that from the rear +only the dark crown of her hair could be seen as she sat on her +steps--this was the man to whose love tale she had listened smilingly, +while he himself was a prisoner hiding for his very life. A lady-killer, +Dunn had said; and well he could believe it from the traces of manly +beauty still lingering in the suffering face. A fierce jealousy tore at +his heart. Evidently, from his ramblings, Joscelyn had listened to this +other's wooing, and had written him letters, while she mocked him and +sent him never so much as one little line in answer to all the pages he +wrote her. He had always known that other men would love her,--it could +not be otherwise with her sweetness and her beauty,--but always in his +thoughts she had kept herself for him. Had it been a false hope; had she +loved this brave Briton who called upon her with such pathos of +tenderness? If so, then was his own dream-castle in ruins. + +By and by, just before the end, there came a lucid hour. The wounded man +turned his eyes questioningly upon his nurse. + +"I found you after the fight, so far in our lines that your own men had +missed you in their retreat, and the surgeon left you in my care," +Richard said gently. + +"To die? Yes, I see it in your eyes." + +"You fell at the head of your men, as a soldier wishes death to find +him." + +The other smiled faintly, "My mother will perchance be a little +comforted by that. You will write her?" + +"Yes--And Joscelyn?" + +"Joscelyn?--how do you happen--?" + +"You talked of her in your delirium. She lives in the Carolina hill +country. I, too, know her and--love her." + +And then each told something of his story to the other; and they clasped +hands as brave men can when enmity and prejudice and jealousy are +swallowed up in the wide sympathy that lurks forever in the precincts of +the Great Shadow. + +"And when the war is over, and I tell her again of my love," said +Richard, with that impulsive generosity that was ever one of his +characteristics, "I will tell her also of yours--and mayhap she will +choose rather to cherish your memory than to give herself to me." + +And Barry turned his face to the wall and died, whispering his love for +her to the last. It was a strange scene, this midnight confessional +between two men who, all unknown to each other, had striven for the same +heart-goal--who in life would have been bitter and unrelenting rivals, +but who met and parted amid the shadows of death as friends and +brothers. Richard wrote it all to Joscelyn, eloquently, passionately; +portraying faithfully every emotion of the dying man. + + "He loved you, Joscelyn, even as I do; only not so much, for + methinks no man could do that. But he was brave and manly, and to + have won his heart is proof of your sweetness and worth. He told me + many things of that fearful night when I lay up in your garret, and + downstairs you held your guests from all suspicion by your tact and + courage. He hated Tarleton for his distrust of you, and I let him + go to the far Shore in ignorance of how you saved me, fearing that + he would not understand, and that his last moments would be + imbittered by a useless jealousy. + + "Did you love him? Am I breaking your heart with this news, my + best beloved? If so, remember, I beseech you, how my own would + break to know it." + +And Joscelyn read the letter by the fading sunset, and then sat with wet +eyes through the star-haunted gloaming, thinking of the young life that +had gone out in the red trail of war. She missed him as it did not seem +possible she could have missed any one who had been so short a while in +her consciousness. + +And sitting thus alone with her sorrow, she felt a hand on hers and an +arm slip around her neck. + +"Joscelyn, I could not stay away any longer," whispered Betty's voice in +the dark. "I had both of your notes; I know you are sorry, and I miss +you so much!" + +"Dear Betty, dear Betty, how glad I am you are come! I cannot tell you +how lonely and wretched my life is, and now my--my true friend is gone!" +and with her head on the girl's bosom, she gave way to a nervous +sobbing. + +"Did you love him?" Betty asked, when at last she understood. + +"I--I do not know; but I have so few friends, and he loved me and +trusted me, and I shall miss him." + +"Did you wish to marry him?" + +"I cannot say. Sometimes when I have been very lonely, and you all +turned from me, I have thought I did. To marry him and go away to a new +place and new friends seemed best. He was strong and brave, but he was +gentle and considerate, and he never hectored me--a girl likes not to +be hectored and quarrelled with in her courting." + +"No," answered Betty, sadly, understanding she had Richard in mind. +Often, with a woman's instinct, she had pleaded with her brother to +humour Joscelyn more in her way of looking at things; but he had chosen +to attempt to set her right, or, at least, right as he saw it. + +"I must be going; mother is at Mistress Strudwick's and will be angry if +she knows I came here," Betty said at last, rising with a sigh. But +Joscelyn held her back with both hands. + +"Not yet, Betty, not yet; we can see her far down the street by the +lights from the windows. Stay a little longer; it is such a comfort to +have you." + +"I wish I could come without this deception." + +"I, too, with all my heart." + +"You had a letter to-day; was it from Master Singleton?" + +"No; it was this sad one from Richard, by the same messenger that +brought yours. The last letter I had from Eustace was the one I sent you +some two weeks ago. Since he was then on the eve of going to New York to +carry letters to General Clinton, it is not likely he is among those in +the beleaguered city of Yorktown." + +"I have been so glad to think this," Betty answered, sighing. "Do you +know, Joscelyn, I saw him in the parlour yonder for a few minutes the +day the British marched?" + +"Yes; I told mother to have you here, and then I sent him back from +headquarters." + +Betty kissed her gratefully. "I might have guessed it. It was such a +happy ten minutes! But, Joscelyn, mother never mentions his name except +to remind me that his father and mine were bitter enemies." + +"Wait until Richard comes home; he doubtless will look at matters +differently; and as he says, so will your mother do." + +"Not unless you plead for me; and even that may not now avail, for he +may share mother's anger against you." + +"Richard will not be angry with me when he returns," Joscelyn answered +confidently; and Betty kissed her softly. + +"Oh, Joscelyn, if it could only have been Richard instead of Captain +Barry to win even this much of your heart! But there, I must be going; +some one is coming down the street." + +"You will come again sometime?" + +"Yes, for I have wanted you so much." + +"And I you." + +They held each other close for a moment, and then Betty ran across the +street and dodged into the shadow of her own door. Her visit helped +Joscelyn immeasurably, in that it gave her a sense of sympathy. But she +could not shake off the depression of Richard's news; it was a +culmination of the long strain upon her nervous system. In the +succeeding days she had fits of silent brooding which sometimes, in the +sombre twilights, ended in tears. For the first time since the news of +Lexington, her neighbours found her grave and preoccupied. The fearless +badinage with which she had met every attack upon her partisan creed was +suddenly stayed, as though she heard not their thrusts and innuendoes. +And Mistress Strudwick watched her with a vague uneasiness, longing to +see the old, quick passion flame up now and then. + +But this frame of mind was rudely broken by the thrilling news of the +fall of Yorktown. She had expected it for days, but the reality roused +all of her former spirit, and put her once more upon the defensive. + +"Lord Cornwallis has surrendered?" she said calmly to Amanda Bryce and +the two gossips, who had run in to tell her the news and to gloat over +her discomfiture. "'Tis most courteous of you to bring me the +information so swiftly; you are quite out of breath with your race. I +shall immediately write my sincere condolences to his lordship that +wrong has triumphed over right. Will you not have a cup of tea with me, +ladies?--there is no longer any tax. No? Then I have the honour to wish +you a very good morning. Pray come again when you have further tidings." + +She set the door open for them with the air of a sovereign condescending +to her subjects; and they went away humiliated and furious. + +"From the airs she gives herself, one would think Joscelyn Cheshire had +royal blood in her veins," they said angrily. But when Mistress +Strudwick heard of the scene, she laughed long and heartily. + +"They deserved it, the carping crones! Would I had been there to see +them routed. Thank Heaven her spirit has come back; how I love her for +it, unreconstructed Tory as she is!" + +Never again was Joscelyn to deck herself in her scarlet bodice in honour +of an English victory; never again to tease her neighbours with her +taunting Tory ballads. The war was over; she had lost her cause; and +with her life all out of attune with her surroundings she must face the +inevitable. Seeing the relief in her mother's face, she could not be +sorry that peace had come, though the terms were bitter; and so even in +her loss was there something of compensation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +HOMECOMINGS. + + "The bugles sound the swift recall; + Cling, clang! backward all! + Home, and good night!" + --E. C. STEDMAN. + + +The war was over; the drums lay unbeaten, the snarling trumpets sang +their songs no more upon the level plains or sloping sides of far blue +hills; liberty had triumphed, and the scarlet insignia of kingly rule +had gone from the land forever. But peace did not bring the desired +order of things. The unstable government of an untrained congress could +not control the spirit of maraud and chaos that had so long dominated +certain classes of people. Eight years of warfare had left its scar on +the whole country, but particularly in those portions where the fighting +had fallen. The sanguine among the triumphant contestants had looked for +an immediate rehabilitation of affairs, thinking that the taps of war +would be the reveille of commerce and order and prosperity. But as yet +Americans were better soldiers than statesmen. They had to learn to +govern themselves, learn to wield the mighty power they had won; and at +first knowledge was slow in coming. Private wrongs were remembered, +individual grievances were recalled. The spirit that refrained from +shouting over a fallen foe at Yorktown manifested itself at home in many +petty ways against the defeated Tories, so that among these latter was a +feeling of unprotected helplessness that made them sullen and restive. + +"Joscelyn," Mary Singleton said, coming in one day when the winter was +at its fiercest, "father says he is going to Canada to stay until things +get settled. We cannot stir from our gate without receiving some +rudeness, and our property is threatened with confiscation, piece by +piece, on the ground that we used it to aid the king's cause. Will you +come with us? We would love to have you." + +"No, for my mother would not think of such a thing; and where she is, +there will I stay." + +"Well, you had no man in the war; but against us the enmity is strong, +because Eustace actually bore arms in the king's service." + +"Will Eustace go with you?" + +"No; he writes that as soon as he gets his discharge, he means to return +here and accept whatever fate comes to him." + +"I am glad. That is the right way to take his defeat. Your father is old +and worn with annoyance, but Eustace is young enough to meet the +struggle and win his way. Trust me; all will be well with him in the +end," and Joscelyn's eyes were on Betty's window over the way. + +"Edward Moore joins us in New York," Mary said, with a blush. + +"And I shall not be there to play the part of bridesmaid! Well, I shall +content myself with putting a handful of rice and an old shoe into your +trunk." + +After the Singletons were gone, Joscelyn was very lonely, for the only +house at which a welcome always met her was Mistress Strudwick's. + +"You may say what you please, Amanda Bryce, but that girl comes here +when she likes, and stays as long as she pleases; and if there is +anybody I'm gladder to see, I do not know who it is," said the stanch +old lady. + +Soundly she lectured Joscelyn at times, but the fault-finding always +began and ended with a caress, so there was no sting in it. Here the +girl sometimes met Betty; and the older woman, seeing the desire of +their hearts shining in their faces, encouraged them to be friends. +Here, too, Janet Cameron often came, and after the visit walked home +openly with her arm in Joscelyn's, making merry little mouths at +Mistress Bryce as they passed her door. These visits and walks were +Joscelyn's chief pleasure, and she stood sorely in need of recreation, +for of late she was thinner and more irritable than her mother had ever +seen her. + +"You need a course of bitters," Mistress Strudwick said, opening her +medicine-box one day. + +"I have been taking such a course for eight years." + +"Yes, Amanda Bryce's tongue drips not with honey! But I shall talk with +your mother, and between us we will take you in hand and get the edge +off your nerves." So Joscelyn dutifully yielded herself to her two +physicians, who took much delight in the teas and tonics they brewed for +her. + +During all these autumn and winter weeks, Richard Clevering had lain in +the field hospital at Yorktown, racked with pain and fever from the +wound he got when--singing a song of the Carolina hills--his regiment +stormed that gun-girt bastion on the British left, and the colonies were +free! + +Things would have gone better with him had he been content to lie still +and let the bones knit; but he could not stay away from that last scene +of the surrender, which made all the privations of the past worth while. +To miss that was to miss the joy of life, the glory of the fight, the +crown of the conqueror; and so he had pretended to be much stronger than +he was, and had gone to stand in his place when the British, with silent +drums and cased banners, marched from their surrendered fortifications, +and stacked arms between the martial lines of French and Continentals. +The sight compensated him for the pain the exertion entailed, so that he +never complained when, afterwards, the surgeon shook his head gravely +over the fever that flushed his veins. He had had his heart's desire; he +would bear its results. + +But in the early part of January, seeing a tedious recovery still ahead +of him, and the hospital facilities being so limited, he asked to be +sent home to be cared for by his own people. There would be no more +fighting, and his stay was an unnecessary burden upon the army +officials, whose hands were full trying to keep down the spirit of +insurrection that was fermenting the camp over the delay in the +soldiers' pay. To relieve the strain upon the moneyless army coffers, +many of the men who had been invalided were allowed to return to their +homes. Thus it was, that Joscelyn, unconscious of the extent of the hurt +that had come to him--for he had written no particulars home--and also +of his dismissal, answered a knock at her door one bleak January day, +and gave a great cry at sight of the weary man leaning against the +veranda railing, with an empty sleeve pinned helplessly to the bandaged +arm beneath. + +"Richard Clevering!" + +"Ay, Richard come back with a crushed arm, but a sound heart to claim +you, unworthy though he now knows himself to be of such a prize, +Joscelyn, Cornwallis has struck his martial colours, will you surrender +to me for love's dear sake?" + +He had come into the hall and closed the swaying door against the wind, +while she retreated backward until she stood close to the wall, her +hands behind her. + +"I owe you life and all the gratitude that means, but it is out of my +love for you, which has grown with every hour of my absence, that I ask +this--will you come to me, Joscelyn?" + +She did not speak, but slowly she shook her head, her eyes meeting his +with a curious compassion. For one long minute he looked at her, +searchingly, yearningly; then his outstretched arm fell to his side. + +"Then is the war not over for me," he said sadly. + +He went with her into the sitting-room, and, with the luxurious +hearth-glow brightening his face and taking that deathly pallor out of +it, the while her magnetic presence kindled a tempestuous fire in his +veins, he told her the story of that final surrender and of his hurt, +softening the former narrative as best he might, remembering how she had +wished it otherwise. Then with a half-whimsical, half-pathetic touch +upon his bandaged arm, he said:-- + +"The surgeon said that with time and care this would heal, but the +accident has left me but one hand wherewith to begin that other campaign +which means so much to me,--for if I win you not, I might as well have +perished at the hands of the Redcoats." + +As she listened, while the afternoon wore away, she was conscious of +some change in him. Not that his tone showed less of resolution to +achieve his purpose; it was rather an absence of the over-weening +self-confidence which had so offended her in the past. Five years of +warfare and baffled wooing had taught him something of self-distrust, +something of humility which became him well. The empty sleeve and the +emaciated, listless figure touched her with a quick pity, in such +violent contrast were they to his former robust activity and superb +proportions, so that she sighed and turned her face aside. + +And he, on his part, was studying her, finding again, with a thrill of +joy, the same saucy curves about her lips, the same glinting blue lights +in her eyes that had held his heart captive in the past; and noting, +too, the touch of womanly dignity which had in some wise supplanted the +impetuosity of the old days. The girl of eighteen had become a woman of +twenty-three since that day she had laughed down upon the Continentals +marching away to Valley Forge. But there was not an attraction lost; +rather was every charm ripened and perfected by the hallowing touches of +growth and development. If he had loved her in the past, a thousand +times more did he love her now in her splendid womanhood. Had she cared +for Barry? Always the question was a stab; and with it now there came +the first quick doubt of the final healing of his arm. Could she ever +love him if he should be maimed like this forever? + +Looking up suddenly, she found his eyes upon her face in such a wistful +gaze that she flushed involuntarily, and a painful silence fell between +them. Intuitively she felt that this was not the same Richard who had +gone away, this earnest, tender man with not a trace of arrogance in his +manner. Had he always been like this, they need not have quarrelled. She +had been willing to overlook much had he only left her a right to her +own opinions, and treated the views her father had taught her with +respect. + +"Do you know," she said, breaking the pause with a little nervous laugh, +"that if you are to preserve the good will of your neighbours, you must +stay away from me?" + +"Then do I this minute forswear their friendship, for to stay from you +would be to remain outside of Paradise. Only tell me one thing,--you did +not hate me for the news I wrote you of Barry?" + +"Nay, it was the one of your letters I felt drawn to answer." + +He took her unresisting hand and kissed it softly. "If you loved him, I +would I had died in his place." + +And then again that silence fell between them, while at his heart was +biting that most helpless of all jealousy--the jealousy of the dead. +Against a living rival one may contend with hope; but when that on which +the heart is set has come to be but a memory, incapable of blunder or +cruelty, the contest becomes useless, or pitifully unequal. Yearningly +Richard's eyes studied the face before him, and yet he would not ask her +the question that burned in his heart. Some day she would tell him the +truth of her own accord; until then he must wait and suffer. + +His return, she foresaw, was to be to her at once a relief and an +embarrassment, for she would not consent to his making public her share +in his escape of the winter, lest it look like a plea on her part for a +cessation of hostilities. + +"I have held my own against them all these years; I will not ask for any +terms, now that the end has come, and my side has gone down in defeat," +she said. + +"But, Joscelyn, think how they would adore you for such a service to +their country! My information was most useful to General Greene." + +"I did it not for sake of their country." + +"Well, then, for sake of their countryman. They love me, if you do not." +He leaned toward her laughing, yet pleading; and she noted how honest +and pleasant were his eyes. But she held to her point against all of his +arguments; and so he was feign to yield except in regard to his mother; +there he was firm. + +"I never dreamed but that she knew, for the quick movements of the last +campaign left no time for letters to reach me from home. Had I not +thought you would tell her as soon as the British were well out of town, +I should have asked a furlough, and come home to set you right. To think +what you have suffered for saving my poor life!" + +And so it was that half an hour later Mistress Clevering came hastily +in without the ceremony of knocking, and taking Joscelyn in her +arms,--to Mistress Cheshire's amazement,--said many grateful and +affectionate things. + +"When I think of what you have done for us, I am bowed down with +humiliation for the cruelty with which I have requited you. Oh, my dear, +my dear! had you only told me and your mother at the time, things would +have been very different." + +"Yes," answered the girl, demurely, "so different that Master +Clevering's life would have paid the penalty of his daring. Nay, it was +a game at which only one could play with safety. You could have done +naught but share my anxiety, and that were no help." + +"And to think how I have scolded and blamed you for the quarrel between +me and Ann," said her mother, tearfully; but Joscelyn's tender answer +comforted her. + +"And here comes Betty to make her peace with you, too," Aunt Clevering +said, as the breathless girl entered. + +"Oh, Betty and I have been friends these many weeks, as dear Mistress +Strudwick can testify," Joscelyn said, putting her arm affectionately +around Betty, who with a grateful cry had sprung to her side. And from +the doorway, Richard thought he had never seen a more beautiful picture. + +Thus was the breach that had yawned between the two families healed; and +the sorest ache in Joscelyn's heart was cured as she witnessed the +happiness of her mother who, with a firmness scarcely to be expected, +had given up her old friend and held stanchly to her daughter, although +she held that daughter to blame. It was touching to see her childish +delight in the renewal of the old relations. A dozen times a day she was +in and out of the two houses, for Richard's wound afforded her many +pretexts for kindly ministrations. He never left his bed except to lie +on the sofa by the window, for his strength seemed suddenly to have +failed him after the sustained effort he had made to reach home. Often +he wished Joscelyn would come in her mother's stead; but for her own +reasons the girl kept her distance, so that sometimes he did not see her +for days together. And every day that she stayed away the jealous pain +bit deeper into his heart. + +But one day she came of her own accord. There had been a knock and the +sound of a man's voice at the door, followed by the maid making some +excuse for Mistress Clevering; and presently, when all had grown silent, +Betty came through the sitting-room with a face so white that Richard +called out from where he lay to know what was the matter. But she did +not stop to answer, and so he waited in a troubled doubt while the clock +ticked off a slow twenty minutes. Then the door opened, and Joscelyn +came straight up to his couch, a strange light of pleading in her eyes. + +"Richard," she said, and his face brightened, for she had taken to +calling him Master Clevering with a formality he hated. "Richard, if a +man be true and honest and loves a woman, should he not have the chance +to tell her so and win her?" + +"Most assuredly." + +"And old feuds and differences of a former generation, with which he had +nothing to do, should have no weight to hold him back?" + +"Why--what mean you?" + +"This; that even as you love me," and a brilliant colour dyed her cheeks +at mention of it, "so does Eustace Singleton love Betty." + +"I had half guessed as much--and I am sorry." + +"And Betty loves him. Nay, lie still and look not so angrily at me. +There is no one to blame; a woman's heart, like a man's, asks no +permission in the giving of itself." + +"But Betty knew--" + +"Yes, she knew all the opposition in store for her, and she made her own +fight; but love takes no dictation." + +"Right well do I know that." + +"Then you have no room for a quarrel with her; rather should your +sympathy be on her side. All her happiness is set on Eustace; he is her +true lover, has been for years,--and I have resolved so to aid her, that +you and Aunt Clevering shall not break her heart by a cruel and useless +separation." She stepped back and threw up her head; just so had she +looked a year ago, when she bade defiance to the short colonel while he +himself crouched in her shadowy garret. For a moment they gazed at each +other steadily, then she was again beside him, her eyes luminous with a +gentle entreaty:-- + +"Richard, if--if I loved you with all my soul, would you let my mother's +dislike, if she did dislike you, stand between us?" + +"My God, no!" + +"Eustace is a man like you--and Betty loves him like that." + +He saw the drift of her meaning but he did not answer, and thus for +another minute they looked into each other's eyes unwaveringly; then his +gaze fell, and with a sudden delicious softening of manner, she stooped +and took his hand. + +"Richard, Eustace is yonder in my parlour,--come back like a brave man +to begin life all over, and suffer anything to be near Betty. He has +been denied entrance at your door. Bid me bring him here to you. If +not--then will I take Betty to him, even though I should thus lose yours +and Aunt Clevering's friendship forever." + +"You make hard terms." + +"I am dealing with a hard man." + +"Think you so, sweetheart? Methought I had ever been gentle to you. +Betty's happiness is very dear to me--" he broke off, sighing. She still +held his hand, or rather he held hers, for his was the stronger grasp. +Suddenly, with that same enchanting gentleness, she bent close to him, +and laid her cheek against his tingling fingers:-- + +"Thank you, Richard, for yielding; I knew when once you understood, you +could not be so cruel as to refuse. I will bring Eustace at once." + +"But, Joscelyn, I did not say--" + +"Oh, but you looked your consent--and I never saw your eyes so +beautiful, such a tender gray." He flushed with pleasure, still, +however, protesting; but she was already at the door, whence she looked +back at him with a roguish smile, "I shall give you half an hour to make +Aunt Clevering see things as we do. At the end of that time I will be +here with Eustace; and if you wish to go on being friends with me, be +sure to have on your very best manners and--and that beautiful light in +your eyes." + +She kept her word; no one ever knew what passed between Richard and his +mother, but an hour later Mistress Clevering, stiff of lip, but +courteous of manner, bade Betty take Master Singleton from Richard's +room to the parlour, and find him some refreshment. And when Betty had +obeyed, Joscelyn softly closed the door behind them, shutting them into +a rose-hued world of their own, where it were sacrilege for another to +intrude. Upstairs she heard Richard calling her entreatingly, but +remembering by what means her victory over his prejudice had been won, +she pretended not to hear, but ran swiftly into the street, and reached +Mistress Strudwick's door with such a glowing face that that lady +exclaimed:-- + +"Hoity-toity, child! still letting your cheeks play the Royalist, +although the war is done? Your sweetheart should see you now. In sooth, +I think Amanda Bryce would even agree that you are pretty. Come here and +tell an old woman what all these blushes mean." + +And Joscelyn's fibbing tongue said it was only the race she had run in +the wind from her door. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +AN UNANSWERED QUESTION. + + "As o'er the grass, beneath the larches there + We gayly stepped, the high noon overhead, + Then Love was born--was born so strong and fair." + --GIPSY SONG. + + +Although Joscelyn continued to hold herself aloof from Richard, yet she +was conscious of his protecting influence in other ways besides the +healing of that family quarrel that had been such a burden to her and to +them all. Most of the women of her set continued to cut her outright, or +to treat her with the scantest courtesy; but there were no more threats +concerning her; the boys who had hooted under her window left off their +insolent ways, and the merchants and tradespeople no longer gave her +indifferent service. And in all this she recognized Richard's work, for +he had openly espoused her cause, and had let it be known that those who +offended or ill-used her should later on be answerable to him. From the +day of his coming, she felt herself shadowed by an unobtrusive but +persistent watchfulness that plucked many a thorn from her path; and +after the stormy months that had passed, she could not but be grateful +for the calm. Invalid though he was, she intuitively felt his to be the +stronger will, and made no fight against what he did in her behalf. The +protection for which she had longed had come to her, and she was glad to +feel his strength between her and her persecutors. Never in any boastful +way did he remind her of the defeat of her cause; and tacitly she +acknowledged his generosity. The very perils they had shared drew them +together with that subtle bond of sympathy a mutual interest creates; +and so seldom was there a return to their former sparring that Mistress +Strudwick protested she knew not which had the better manners. + +"I declare, my dear," she said, pinching Joscelyn's cheek, "you are so +beautifully behaved of late that I begin to find you a bit tiresome. +Methinks I must stir up Amanda Bryce to pay you a visit and talk over +the war, or else we'll all be stagnating for lack of excitement." + +"Well, after these eight years of fermentation, stagnation is just now +the special estate to which I aspire." + +"So? Well, Richard here prefers the estate of matrimony. Is it not true, +my lad?" And from the sofa Richard's eyes said yes; whereupon the old +lady went on, nodding her head with mock solemnity, "And since one of +you wants stagnation and one wants matrimony, I am not so sure but that +you are of the same mind, for some folk find these things of a piece. +And so, miss, you may have come around to Richard's way of thinking +after all." + +And seeing Joscelyn stiffen, Richard was sorry that the conversation had +taken such a personal turn; for the two had come in to pay him a visit. +That was one thing that troubled him--she never came by herself; always +it was her mother or Betty or Janet Cameron she brought with her as +though she feared to trust herself alone with him, wishing, perchance, +to hear no more of his love-making. And even with these others she came +so seldom. He could not go to her, for the hard rough journey home had +racked his arm and set the fever to throbbing again in his blood, and he +must remain quiet, or dire consequences were threatened. + +But one February night, when she had stayed away several days, and +the longing in his breast grew unbearable, he sent for her. The wind +without howled like some hungry creature seeking its prey, and the +white-fingered spirit of the snowstorm tapped weirdly at his window. But +he gave it no heed; storm or shine, he must see her this night of all +others; and so a word of entreaty was sent across the street. She came +at once, a brilliant apparition in a scarlet shawl over which the snow +lay powdered in shining crystals; on her lips and in her eyes the smile +of which he had dreamed in the copper and crimson sunsets on the +prison-ship. He gathered her cold hands into his feverish ones. + +"You knew I must see you this night?" + +"Yes; I felt you would send for me, for I knew we were thinking of the +same things." + +"A year ago to-night you and I stood in jeopardy of our lives." + +She nodded; all day she had been living over those fearful hours of +which this day was the anniversary. + +"Yes, a year ago to-night Tarleton held us in his toils." + +"We have never talked of that dreadful time; now I want you to tell me +everything you can recall of it. Sit down." + +As she obeyed, the wide shawl fell away and left in sight the silver +brocade of her gown, and her shoulders rising white and beautiful from +the lace of the low bodice. He started, and raised himself upon his +elbow. Was he dreaming? No; the powder and the rose were in her hair, +the saucy patch at the corner of her mouth. She had not forgotten; just +so had she looked when she faced Tarleton, and risked her womanhood for +his own safety. He could not speak, but his eyes did full homage to her +beauty. + +"I knew you would send for me, so I was ready," she said, and smiled +again. So it was for him she had robed herself thus!--there was a thrill +of ecstasy in his veins. And then when he still did not speak, for sheer +joy of looking at her, she began to talk of that terrible day; and both +of them lived over in a quick rush of memory all its hopes and fears, +its uncertainties and dangers. Her fingers were icy cold, and the very +tremors that had then possessed her, crept again through her veins as +she went from scene to scene, and he learned for the first time all of +her deceptions and trials. So absorbed was she that she did not even +know he had taken her hands in his, until she felt the hot pressure at +the end of her narrative. Then when there seemed nothing left to tell, +and he still looked at her in a silence more eloquent than words, she +grew restless and rose to go; but he caught her skirt. + +"Not yet, not yet! Betty is happy with her lover in the parlour, and +mother is somewhere down there acting propriety or else fast asleep. For +this one evening, at least, you shall belong to me." + +And then when those hot, trembling fingers had drawn her again to her +seat, he went on:-- + +"There is one question I have wanted to ask you all these months--" And +then, for very fear of her answer, he hesitated and substituted another. +"Why did you not come back to me that last night? You knew I was waiting +for you, longing for you with every heart-throb." + +"It was so late." + +"Late? What mattered an hour on the dial when I wanted you so much?" + +And she flushed and hesitated, remembering she had not gone back at that +unseemingly hour lest he should misunderstand her; men were so cold in +their judgments. Looking at him now she was ashamed of that doubt of +him. + +"Was it in truth the lateness of the hour, or--or because of what Barry +said to you on the stair? I opened the attic door and saw you, and I +knew he was talking of his love. My God, how I envied him! Was it for +that you stayed away from me?" + +She turned her head aside with a gesture that hurt him like a +knife-thrust. Then the question that had burnt in his thoughts, and +filled his heart with cankering jealousy all these weeks, came out:-- + +"Joscelyn, did you love him? Tell me the truth in mercy." + +Slowly her eyes came back to him, soft and blue, and kindled with a +flame he had never seen before. He rose on his elbow to meet the answer, +eager yet fearful; but before she could speak, Betty opened the door. + +"Eustace and I are coming to sit with you awhile, Richard, for you two +must be better acquainted," she said to him; and with the blindness that +is a part of love, neither she nor Eustace saw that their coming was +unwelcome. Before they left, Joscelyn had slipped away, carrying his +question and its answer in her heart. But before she went to bed, she +opened the box where she kept her treasures, and kneeling in front of +her fire, laid upon the glowing embers the scarlet sash of an officer in +the king's service. + +"I have no right to keep you any longer," she whispered, as the silk +cracked and crinkled, and passed away in a smoke-fringed flame; "no +right, for now I know, I know!" + +The quiet of the town was now frequently broken; for as February drew to +a close, some of the soldiers began to straggle home, some on furlough, +some on dismissal. Billy Bryce, hungry for the toothsome things in his +mother's pantry and impatient for a sight of the yellow curls that +sunned themselves on Janet's head, came first. But ten minutes spent in +that young woman's company so dampened his spirits, that for days his +mother's utmost efforts in culinary arts failed to tempt him. Janet knew +the very hour of his arrival, and she also knew that it was two hours +before he came to seek her. She could not know that his stay with his +mother had been as unwilling as it was dutiful; so to complicate matters +a little more she had gone out to pay some calls that might have waited +a month. But he found her at last on Joscelyn's porch, her hands in her +muff, her curls bobbing from under her hood to the fur-trimmed tippet +below, where the winter sunshine seemed to gather itself into a focus. +He waved to her from halfway down the square, but she only squinted up +her eyes as in a vain effort at recognition. + +"Well, I declare," she exclaimed patronizingly, as he sprang eagerly up +the steps, "if it isn't Mistress Bryce's little Billy! Why, Billy, +child, you must have grown quite an inch since you went away. How is +your dear mother to-day?" + +Her tone and manner were indescribably superior, as though she were +talking to a child of six, so that the amazed and abashed boy, instead +of hugging her in his long arms as he wanted to, took the tips of the +little fingers she put out to him, and stammeringly and solicitously +asked if she had been quite well since he saw her last. She said it was +a long time to remember, but she would do the best she could, and +immediately began to count off on her fingers the number of headaches +and toothaches she had had in the past two years; until Joscelyn, sorry +for the boy's unprovoked misery, stopped her abruptly, and finally sent +Billy across the street to pour out his disappointment to Richard. + +"Janet, you little barbarian, you have no heart!" + +"Oh, yes I have," replied that imperturbable young woman; "I have a +great big heart for a grown man, but you see I do not particularly care +for children who are still dangling at their mother's apron string." + +Even a lecture from Richard, to whom she was much attached, did her no +good; for all the while he was speaking she sat studying the effect of +her high-heeled shoe on Betty's blue footstool, and answered his +peroration about Billy's broken heart with the utterly irrelevant +assertion that Frederick Wyley said she had the prettiest foot in the +colonies. Did Richard agree with him? So Billy's cause was not advanced +any, and Richard began to advise him to think no more of this +yellow-haired tormentor. + +"I declare, Billy Bryce looks like a child with perpetual cramps," +Mistress Strudwick exclaimed to Joscelyn one day, when the lad passed +the window where the two sat; and then she glanced down the room to her +medicine-box. + +"But it is a course of sweets, not bitters, that he needs," laughed +Joscelyn. "It's his heart and not his stomach that ails Billy." + +"Half the lovesickness in the world is nothing but dyspepsia; mighty few +cases of disappointed affection outlast a torpid liver." + +"I never heard you make such an unsentimental remark." + +"You never heard me tell such a truth. Bone-set and senna is the thing +for Billy, and I'll see that he gets a bottle; if it does not cure his +disappointment, it will at least kill off that particular brand of long +face he is wearing. No wonder Janet turns up her nose at him." + +"Yes, I begin to think she is permanently at outs with him." + +Then other soldiers began to arrive. Thomas Nash got sick-leave from +Washington's staff; and from the south came Master Strudwick, more +anxious for a sight of home and wife than for the gold which the +dissatisfied army was awaiting; and out of the north came Peter Ruffin, +a weird wraith of his former self, to tell anew the horrible story of +the prison-ships. The other Hillsboro' man, who had been with him had +succumbed to the plague, and gone to swell the number of those at whose +shallow graves the hungry sea was forever calling. + +"And Dame Grant?" asked Richard, when Peter came to see him. + +"She, too, fell a victim to the disease of the hulks, and sorely did we +miss her. I knew you had escaped in safety, because one day she came to +the ship wearing a new woollen hood, and when we twitted her about it +over the rail, asking her if it was a lover's gift, she said that Dick +Clevering's sweetheart had sent it to her out of gratitude from the +south." + +"I helped to knit it," Betty cried, while Joscelyn's eyes were not +lifted from the floor. In the semi-twilight of the room, Richard reached +out and touched her hand gently. + +"It was like your generous heart." + +"But I made it out of the reddest wool I could find, with never a touch +of blue or buff," she answered, laughing; but Richard was content. + +Nor did these home-coming men bring the only tidings from the outside +world. Now and then letters came that set the tongues to wagging; now +with news of Washington's refusal of a crown, now with a description of +Mary Singleton's marriage to Edward Moore. Janet refused persistently to +show her letters which came in the Halifax post, but one day Richard had +one from Colborn that made him laugh with delight:-- + + "The miniature is set in a narrow gold frame, without jewels; for + although I won my promotion, it was only a lieutenancy. However, I + am content. It was at Guilford Court-house, in your own Carolina + country, the day Tarleton was wounded. Soon I am going home, with + my pockets full of American pebbles, to claim the original, and + bring her back here to this great country to enjoy the freedom I am + glad you won." + +And when Joscelyn went home, after hearing the letter read, she again +opened her box of treasures and took from it a shining gold piece, and +looked at it with a startled sweetness in her eyes. + +[Illustration: "'MY HEART'S PRISONER FOR TIME AND ETERNITY.'"] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +THE END OF THE THREAD. + + "Does not all the blood within me + Leap to meet thee, leap to meet thee, + As the spring to meet the sunshine!" + --"Hiawatha." + + +After a few weeks Richard was able to leave his couch and move about a +little, still hampered, however, by splints and bandages; for in his +fevered tossings he had hurt his arm anew, and the setting had to be +gone over again. The doctor's face was very grave as he warned him +against another accident. + +One afternoon, being lonely and having no better way to pass the time, +he went with Betty to her sewing society. There he protested he wished +to make himself useful, and was quite willing to snip threads and tie +knots. But his offer was received with scoffs, and instead he was +forthwith enthroned in the best chair, served with coffee by one girl, +and with cake by another, and petted and praised like a prince. + +"And now," said Janet Cameron, taking the stool at his feet and +preparing to look very busy, "while we sew, you shall tell us a story of +your camp life,--something that will make our blood curdle and tingle +like it used to do when the war messengers rode into town, and we knew +not what tidings they brought." + +"Yes, tell us a story, Master Clevering," they all cried, and settled +themselves to listen. + +"Let it be about a real hero, Richard; and make him as tall as Goliath +and as strong as Samson. We'll credit anything you say," laughed Janet, +biting off a length of thread. + +"And if you wish to keep Janet's attention to the end, give him jet +black hair and call him Frederick," cried Dorothy Graham. Whereat there +was a general laugh, and for which personality the speaker got a prick +from Janet's needle. + +"One need not draw on his imagination for heroes in these stirring +times, Janet. The land is full of them," Richard answered, catching one +of her shining curls and twisting it about his finger, "though of course +jet black hair and the name of Frederick is a combination to inspire any +story-teller." + +And then he told them of Monmouth day,--of its exultant beginning, its +strange changes and chances, its palsying despair, its victory snatched +from defeat. And while the story was nearing its climax and the needles +were idlest, who should pass along the opposite sidewalk but Mistress +Joscelyn Cheshire, her skirts held daintily out of the slush and snow, +while a riotous March wind set her throat ribbons in a flutter, and +kissed her cheeks to a glow a lover might have envied. A more charming +vision it was hard to conjure up, and the story-teller's narrative +faltered, and his words trailed off into silence as he gazed. But +immediately the slumbering ill-will of the sempsters began to show +itself in sundry nods and head tossings. + +"There goes the Tory beauty," said one sneering voice, "parading herself +before us out of very defiance, no doubt." + +"She has been but to old Polly Little's to carry her some soup," Betty +said hotly. + +"And there was no other afternoon for her to go, and no other path to +take but the one by this door where we might see her! You and Richard +are foolish to be always defending her; she showed you small gratitude +last winter, telling the secrets of your house." + +"Yes; and we know she sent and received spying letters about us to the +British commander. I never speak to her, Tory ingrate that she is!" + +And then while Betty fell to crying and Janet scolded back, declaring +Joscelyn was better than all of them, the criticisms grew so harsh, and +so incisive were the shrugs and lifted brows, that Richard forgot his +wound, forgot the pledge of secrecy upon him, forgot everything but his +anger, and rising up, cried out:-- + +"Listen; I will tell you another story, not of a hero, but of a heroine, +a slip of a girl whose courage equalled anything I ever saw upon the +bloodiest battle-field, in whose presence the bravest of the brave must +uncover in reverence." + +And then he told them the whole story of his hiding and escape while +Cornwallis held the town the winter gone. Told it forcibly, graphically +as he knew how, putting Joscelyn in such a heroic light that her +maligners held down their heads in shame and confusion, feeling +themselves to be all unworthy in comparison; and Dorothy was crying upon +her sewing, and Janet's arm was about his neck in an unconscious, +breathless gratitude for Joscelyn. + +And those letters which had excited their wrath?--there was nothing of +treason or espionage in them; they were but love notes from a British +officer whose chivalric homage had been an honour to any woman. He knew, +for he had put her answers into the breastpocket of the young officer +the day they buried him from the battle-field on the banks of the river +that flows forever to the sea. + +So he finished; and thus did Joscelyn stand before them at last in her +true colours. + +Then with the heat of his anger still upon him, and not waiting for +Betty, Richard got his hat and quitted the house. After that scene, the +air of the room stifled him. He could not be sorry for what he had done, +but he must go straight to Joscelyn and tell her himself, and make what +peace with her he might. He could better afford to bear her anger than +to hear her maligned by those who would be utterly incapable of her +courage or her sacrifice. He had always known he must tell his story if +he heard her slandered. + +He was very weak from his long stay indoors, and the excitement of the +scene through which he had just passed had left his brain dizzy, so that +he was all unfit to take the homeward journey alone. He did not notice +the ice on the crossing until suddenly he felt himself slipping--faster, +faster. He made one frantic effort to regain his balance, missed his +footing, and came down with a crash and a groan upon the jagged +cobblestones. He heard a woman's voice scream out in terror, saw +Joscelyn kneel beside him, and then he fainted. + +It destroyed his last chance,--that terrible fall,--the doctors said; +for the arm had again been fractured and lacerated beyond cure, and to +lose it was the one hope of life; and even that hope was but a slender +one. When Joscelyn heard this, she stayed all the afternoon in her room, +holding the gold piece very hard and tight and weeping bitterly. + +But the operation was successful; and for long days the patient lay +quiet, getting back his hold on the world. His recovery was slower even +than had been expected, but it was sure, and that was enough for +thankfulness. His mother was telling him this one gusty April twilight, +when Joscelyn came into the room on one of her rare visits. The door was +open, so they had not known she was there; and stopping to remove her +wrap, for the day was cool and showery, she heard the end of their talk. + +"Fretting is wrong, Richard. You should be thankful for so sure a +recovery." + +"Perchance I should; but what avails health when a man may not have that +which is dearer than the strength of giants?" + +"And what may that be, my son?" + +"Joscelyn. I love her--love her beyond all words, all thoughts; and now +I shall never possess her." + +"I had long ago guessed your love for her," his mother said slowly; then +added, after a pause, "but I see not why you should not possess her; you +have a true heart, a goodly property, and a shapely figure which this +accident will scarcely mar; a man like that has but to ask--" + +"Nay, that is just it; a man maimed like me has no right to hamper a +woman's life--to ask her love. She is grateful for the protection I have +brought her, but she has no thought for me beside. I lie here and watch +that clock every hour of every day, longing to see her come, hoping for +some sign of awakened love, but there is none. That she comes so seldom +is evidence that she means me to understand this. I shall never dare ask +her again to marry me, but I shall love her always--always." + +There was an infinite pathos in the last words that silenced his mother, +and drew something like a sob from the girl in the shadow of the +curtained door. How generous he was; how brave and true he had always +been! Never once, even in their days of quarrel and make-up, had she +known him lacking in courage and generosity. What would her life be now +without him, for had he not made all the crooked ways straight before +her; had he not given her back the love and esteem of her neighbours, +her old place in the community? Was it not to him she owed all this, and +her mother's happiness besides? Gratitude, did he say? Surely that was +not all there was in her heart, for gratitude did not make a girl shy +and sensitive and dreamy. It was not gratitude that had made her weep so +passionately over his suffering and his loss, and kiss a senseless coin +in the dark of her chamber. From that hour she had worn it in a silken +bag about her neck; she drew it out now and held it in her trembling +fingers. + +Presently Mistress Clevering rose and quitted the room by another door, +unwilling that Richard should see her emotion. Joscelyn hesitated upon +the threshold, held back by a palpitant timidity, until across the +firelit silence there came her name in a sigh that was half a sob:-- + +"Joscelyn--lost--lost!" + +Then with a sudden resolve she came out of the shadow into the dim light +of the room, and kneeling by his couch, drew his one arm over her +shoulder and laid her head on his breast. + +"I am here--Richard." + +"You? Dear love, dear love, what does this mean?" + +"Can you not guess?" she whispered, slipping the gold piece into his +hand, her own tremulous with emotion. + +"I dare not." + +"What was the gold piece to be?" Her voice was scarcely more than a +thread of sound. + +"Our wedding ring--at least, I hoped so once." + +She pressed his fingers together over it, her face still hidden on his +breast. "Give it back to me sometime--in that shape." + +"You mean you will marry me? Speak quick, beloved!" + +"I mean that--that the war is over, and I surrender myself--your +prisoner, an you will take me." + +"My heart's prisoner for time and eternity; thank God!" + +A burned-out log snapped and fell to either side of the andirons, +sending a shower of golden sparks up the wide chimney. She raised her +head and looked at him, and by the fleeting gleam of the fire he found +at last the love-light for which he had so long waited shining in the +depths of her sea-blue eyes. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: + +Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors; otherwise, +every effort has been made to remain true to the author's words and +intent. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Joscelyn Cheshire, by Sara Beaumont Kennedy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOSCELYN CHESHIRE *** + +***** This file should be named 35519.txt or 35519.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/1/35519/ + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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