Lucy Foster Madison

“ The look which she had seen when he refused to greet Harriet until satisfied of her loyalty came now to his face. “He shall not have one privilege.”
“’Twould be inhuman not to permit it, Clifford. ’Tis not justice thee seeks, but the gratifying of thine own rancor toward him.”
“She is right, my son,” spoke Colonel Owen. “You lay yourself open to that very charge. To guard closely against escape is right. To take every precaution against the miscarriage of the sentence is duty. But to refuse a small privilege is not only against the dictates of humanity, but ’tis impolitic as well. ”

“ Owen laughed.
“How well thee knows me, Peggy. But thou art fond of her too, art thou not?”
“Yes, I am, mother,” admitted the girl. “Whenever we go anywhere I am proud of her beauty, and that she is my cousin. And my friends here are charmed with her. Even Sally and Betty—though she sometimes makes dreadful speeches because of being for the king. She can be so sweet, mother, that at times I must steel myself against her, lest I should be more tolerant of her opinions than is wise.” ”

“ Thee will let me see him, my cousin?”
“What you ask, Peggy, is utterly impossible,” answered Clifford. “He shall not have one privilege. A spy deserves none. ’Twas not my desire that the execution should be deferred until morning. There should be no delay in such matters. Spies should be dealt with summarily.”
“You forget, son, that doctrine of that sort works both ways,” observed his father, smiling at the youth’s important air. “We have spies of our own in the enemy’s lines. Too great harshness of dealing will be retaliated upon our own men.” ”

“ You are pale, and thinner than when I saw you last. Mercy! how long ago it seems, yet ’twas but the first week in last month. I have had such a good time in New York, Peggy,” she ran on without waiting for answers to her questions. “The routs and the assemblies were vastly entertaining. And the plays! Oh, Peggy, you should have been there. I thought of you often, and wished you with me, you little gray mouse of a cousin! Why do you wear that frock? I like it not.”
“Did thee in truth think of me?” asked Peggy wistfully. “With all that pleasuring I wonder that thee had time.” ”

“ I think it would be the finest street in the world if it were not for the markets in the middle of it.”
“Does thee?” cried Peggy much pleased. “Why, I thought thee didn’t like Philadelphia?”
“I do like the city. The streets are so broad and regular, and these footways are like those we have in London. ’Tis the people that are not to my liking.” The girl sighed.
For a moment Peggy could not answer for indignation; then, choking back a crushing retort, she replied sagely:
“The people are well enough, Harriet. ’Tis thy feeling which is not right. Thee certainly has the megrims to-day.” ”

“ Peggy and her mother stood watching it as long as it was in sight.
“Oh, mother, I am so tired of it all,” said 114 the girl, with tears. “Will nothing ever be right any more? Will this long war and all its complications never be over with? I am so weary, mother.”
“Give not way to such feelings, Peggy,” said her mother, drawing her into the house. “It doth seem dark at times, and this happening is in truth a sad ending to Harriet’s stay with us. But everything will come right in time. Do not doubt it. Have faith. All will be well some time.” ”

“ Peggy Owen, you have done nothing else since we came from the South two months ago but make shirts. I doubt not that every soldier of the rebel army hath either a shirt of your making, or a pair of socks of your knitting.”
“That could hardly be, Harriet,” laughed Peggy. “I have made but twelve shirts, and just the same number of socks. As we have a few more in the army than that thee sees that it could not be. And how does thee feel?” ”

“ Yet I have laughed at thee.”
“Brave? No,” he responded. “’Tis duty.”
“But I have laughed at thee because of thy shyness,” repeated the girl remorsefully. “Thee always seems so afraid of us females, yet thee can do this, or aught else that is for thy country. Why is it?”
Over his face the red blood ran. He sat for the briefest second regarding her with a puzzled air.
“To defend the country from the invader, to do anything that can be done to thwart the enemy’s designs, is man’s duty,” he said at length. “But to face a battery of bright eyes requires courage, Mistress Peggy. ”

“ You were about to speak, my cousin, of the time when I was a spy. You are thinking that I 365 was perhaps more guilty than John Drayton, insomuch as he hath but given out information while I planned the captivation of both the governor of the Jerseys and the rebel general. And you are thinking, are you not? that you laid yourself under suspicion because of a promise to me. And you are thinking, my little cousin, of how you stole out like a thief in the night to aid me to make my escape. You are thinking of that long night ride, and of all the trials and difficulties in which it involved you. ”

“ The girl spoke with such an assumption of her brother’s pompous air that Peggy laughed tremulously.
“I do believe that thee can do it,” she cried. “Harriet, thee is wonderful!”
“Certainly I can do it,” returned Harriet, well pleased with this admiration. “I shall go in and speak to the captain; explain that he is to come out when I let him know that the sentries have passed. When they meet and cross each other there must be a brief time when the front of the dwelling hath but the solitary guard. Once out, however, he will have to rely upon himself. I can do no more.” ”

“ All Nature rejoiced, and sent forth a profusion of bloom and verdure as though to compensate the land for the bloody war waged throughout its length and breadth. For that great game, whose moves and counter-moves were to terminate so soon in the cul-de-sac of Yorktown, had begun. From the seacoast where Greene had sent him Cornwallis, recovered at last from the dearly bought victory of Guilford Court House, was moving rapidly across North Carolina for a junction with the forces in Virginia. There was no longer a doubt but that the subjugation of the state was the aim of the British. ”

“ I must tell thee what he said,” she ended with a laugh. “It hath much amused me.”
“I don’t wonder that you were amused,” observed the good woman, laughing in turn as Peggy related the youth’s speech. “Those same batteries have brought low many a brave fellow. ’Tis as well to be afraid of them. He is wise who is ware in time. Yet those same bashful fellows are ofttimes the bravest. Methinks I have heard that General Washington was afflicted with the same malady in his youth. And now let us hope that we will have a breathing spell long enough to become acquainted with each other.” ”

“ There is naught to do but to amuse thee by reading or by conversation. The 238 troops are now all on the south side of the James River with thy general, Lord Cornwallis. ’Twould be a most excellent time, Clifford, for a start toward Philadelphia. We would have none but our own soldiers to meet.”
“‘Our own soldiers’ mean my foes, Mistress Peggy,” he rejoined with a half smile. “You forget that I am an Englishman. We would never reach your home were we to start. I am not going to risk my new-found freedom by venturing among the rebels.” ”

“ I cry your pardon, my cousin. Will you give it me?”
“For all doubt of me, thee has it, Clifford,” responded the girl sweetly, touched by his evident contrition. “But for what thee thinks of Americans, no. There are some among us who are not as we would have them be. Among all peoples the good and bad are mingled. I dare say thee is not proud of all Englishmen. We are not a nation of braggarts, as thee thinks. It hath taken something more than braggadocio to repulse thy soldiers for six long years. ”

“ There was an unwonted note of solicitude in his tones, and it came to the girl with something of a shock that he was thinking of the execution which was to have taken place at this hour. She opened her lips eagerly to reply, and then there came the thought that not yet could she declare her thankfulness until the escape had become known.
“Sometimes,” continued the colonel coming from the door to her side, “sometimes, Peggy, ’tis wise to move about in sorrow. Action distracts the mind, and anything that draws the thoughts from grief is of benefit. Come, my little cousin! ”

“ After the departure of an inmate of a family, whether that person has been pleasant or otherwise, there follows a feeling of blankness, of something amiss. Distance, in truth, produces in idea the same effect as in real perspective. Objects are softened, and rounded, and rendered doubly graceful; the harsher and more ordinary points of character are mellowed down, and those by which it is remembered are the more striking outlines that mark sublimity, grace, or beauty. And so it was with Harriet. ”

“ Colonel Owen was as gloomy as his son over the prospect of surrender. He frowned at sight of Peggy.
“I suppose that you are rejoicing over our defeat, my little cousin,” he exclaimed harshly. 397
“I am glad indeed that the cause hath succeeded, my cousin,” answered the girl frankly. “We have fought so long that ’tis matter for rejoicing when at length the victory is ours. Yet,” she added meeting his look with one of compassion, “I am sorry for thee, too. I grieve to see either a proud nation or a proud man humbled.”
“And is it indeed over, as Clifford says, father?” questioned Harriet. ”

“ The relationship is just near enough to be interesting,” she ended with such a languishing air that both Peggy and Sally shook her.
“Such an utterance from a member of The Social Select Circle,” rebuked Peggy. “I’m surprised at thee, Betty.”
“Oh, the edict against the other sex is revoked now,” declared Betty. “And didn’t we always have better times when Robert was with us than when we were alone?”
“We wouldn’t now, though,” answered Sally. “He doesn’t speak French, Betty.”
“Sally, thee is dreadful! Don’t listen to her, Peggy. She is always trying to tease.” ”

“ Washington does no more fighting than he hath done for the past few years your Robert Dale will be in no danger,” observed Harriet, who was certainly in a bad mood for the day.
“Oh, as to that,” retorted Betty airily, “we manage to get in a victory often enough to keep up our spirits. Really, Harriet, I do wish thee could meet Robert.”
“And I wish that you both could meet my brother, Clifford,” cried Harriet. “Why, none of the youths in the rebel camp at Middlebrook could compare with him in looks. He is so handsome, and noble, and brave. ”