Paul Leicester Ford

“ Howls of rage arose on all sides; and it would have fared badly with the master of Greenwood had not the noise brought an officer up.
“Here, here!” he cried sharply, “what ’s all this pother about?”
“’T is a damned Whig, who is—”
“A lie!” roared the squire. “There is no better subject of King George living than Lambert Meredith.”
The officer jeered. “That’s what every rebel claims of late. Not one breathes in the land, if you’d but believe the words of you turncoats.”
“’T is not a lie,” spoke up Janice, her face blazing with temper and her fists clinched as if she intended to use them. ”

“ A pause of some moments followed and then Janice asked: “Dost think I am promised to Mr. Evatt, Tibbie?”—for let it be confessed that every incident of what she had pledged herself not to tell had been poured out to her confidant.
“I think so,” whispered the girl, “and he being used to court ways would surely know.”
“He ’s—well, he’s a fine figure of a man,” owned Janice. “And tho’ I ne’er intended it, I’d rather ’t would be he than Philemon Hennion or the parson.”
“What if thy father and mother should not consent?” said Tabitha. ”

“ Intermittently came the roar of a cannon from the British lines, and those in the hollow could occasionally see and hear a shell as it screeched past them overhead; but they gave not one-tenth the heed to it that they gave to the breakfast they were despatching. Indeed, their sole grumblings were at the meagreness of the ration which had been dealt out to them the night before ere they had been marched forward into their present position; and as a field officer, coming from the American camp, descended into the ravine, these found open expression. ”

“ The commissary fell back to where he had set the baskets. “In your necessity ye felt otherwise, and I advise ye to remember that ye still require my aid. I am not one of those who lavish favours and expect no return, though a good friend to those who make it worth my while. If I am to have naught from ye, ye shall have naught from me.” He picked up the baskets. “Here is milk, bread, meat, jellies, and wines, to be had for a price, and only for a price.”
“Oh, prithee, Lord Clowes,” begged Janice, despairingly, “you cannot seek to advantage yourself of my desperate plight. ”

“ The commissary, with knitted brows, started to speak, but checked himself and took half a dozen strides. Returning, he said:—
“Miss Meredith, ’t is not just to judge the future by the past. Can ye not understand that what I did in Philadelphia, ay, every act of mine at which ye could take offence in our whole acquaintance, has been done on heated impulse? If ye but knew a man’s feelings when he loves as I love, and finds no response to his passion in the object of it, ye would pardon my every act.” ”

“ Get ye into the house, man; I’ll hold him. Ah! Jan. Take Mr. Evatt in, lass, and tell your mother we’ve a visitor.”
Janice, feeling strangely shy, led the way to the parlour, and when her mother, after the briefest of greetings, promptly bustled off to order a glass of wine and to inspect the best lodging-room—as guest chambers were then termed—her embarrassment was sufficient to bring the blood glowing into her cheeks, while, not daring so much as to meet Evatt’s eye, she hung her head and had much ado to keep from trembling. ”

“ Yet it was in vain that the commissary plied her with his old-time arts of manner and tongue. Even the slow mind of the squire took note that he gained no ground with his daughter.
“’T is a tougher task ye’ve undertaken even than ye counted upon,” he said, one evening over the wine, as Janice left the table at the earliest possible instant.
“Tut! give me time. I’ll bring her around yet.”
“I warned ye the maid had ye deep in her bad books.”
“What ’s a month? If a woman yields in that time, a man may save himself the parson’s fee, and it please him.” ”

“ Miss Meredith, every ounce of blame ye put upon my conduct I accept honestly and regretfully, but did ye but know all, I think ye would pity rather than judge me in that heart which seems open to every one but me. From the day my father died in the debtor’s prison and I was thrown a penniless boy of twelve upon the world, it has been one long fight to keep head above water, till I got this appointment. The gentlemen of the army have told ye that I was a government spy, I doubt not. I wonder what they would have been in my straits! Think ye any man is spy by choice? ”

“ Left alone by her father to digest this advice, Janice lapsed into a despondent attitude, while remarking: “’T is horrible, and never could I bring myself to it. Starvation would be easier.” She sat a little time pondering; then, getting her cloak, calash, and pattens, she set forth, the look of thought displaced by one of determination. A hurried walk of a few squares brought her to the Franklin house, where she asked for André.
“Miss Meredith,” cried the captain, as he appeared at the door, “this is indeed an honour! But why tarry you outside?” ”

“ In a town of less than a thousand inhabitants, nearly thirteen hundred troops, with their inevitable camp followers, were forcibly quartered, filling every house and every barn, to the dire discomfort of the people. As if this in itself were not enough, the Hessian soldiery, habituated to the plundering of European warfare, and who had been sold at so much per head by their royal rulers to fight another country’s battles, brought with them to America ideas of warfare which might serve to conquer, but would never serve to pacify, England’s colonies. ”

“ Mobray made an impulsive movement as Clowes stooped and kissed the girl’s hand, almost as if intending to strike the baron; but checking himself; he sarcastically remarked, with a frowning face: “If you enjoy the favour of his Lordship, Miss Meredith, you need not look further for help. We fellows who fight for our country barely get enough to keep life in us, but the commissariat knows not short commons. Mr. Commissary-General, you have an opportunity to aid Miss Meredith that you should not have were it in my power to forestall you.” ”

“ That Tibbie intended to shirk the consequences of her misdemeanour was only too clearly proved to Janice, when later she went to her room to prink for supper, for lying on her dressing stand was the miniature. Shocked as Miss Meredith was at the sight, she lifted and examined the trinket.
Bred in colonial simplicity, it seemed to the maid that she had never seen anything quite so exquisite. A gold case, richly set with brilliants, encompassed the portrait of a girl of very positive beauty. ”

“ It is a regrettable fact that Miss Janice, who had looked the picture of submission as her mother spoke, made a mouth, which was far from respectful, at the departing figure.
“Oh, Janice,” said Tabitha, “will he be very severe?”
“Severe?” laughed Janice. “If dear dadda is really angry, I’ll let tears come into my eyes, and then he’ll say he’s sorry he hurt my feelings, and kiss me; but if he’s only doing it to please mommy, I’ll let my eyes shine, and then he’ll laugh and tell me to kiss him. Oh, Tibbie, what a nice time we could have if women were only as easy to manage as men!” ”

“ The twenty-four hours of Evatt’s visit troubled Janice in recollection for many a day, and marked the beginning of the most distinct change that had come to her. The experience was in fact that which befalls every one somewhere between the ages of twelve and thirty, by which youth first learns to recognise that life is not mere living, but is rather the working out of a strange problem compounded of volition and necessity, accident and fatality. ”

“ Every Whig whom the British successes had for a moment made faint-hearted, every farmer whose crops or stock had been seized, every householder on whom troops had been quartered, even Joe Bagby and the Invincibles took guns from their hiding-places and, forming themselves into parties, joined Washington’s army in the Jersey hills about Morristown, or, acting on their own account, boldly engaged the British detachments and stragglers wherever they were encountered. ”

“ The servant nodded his head. “The feeling against the squire is far deeper than you suspect. ’T will find vent in some violence, I fear, unless he yield to public sentiment.”
“He’ll never truckle to the country licks and clouted shoons of Brunswick,” asserted Janice, proudly.
“’T will fare the worse for him. ’T is as sensible to run counter to public opinion as ’t is to cut roads over mountains.”
“’T is worse still to be a coward,” cried Janice, contemptuously. “I fear, Charles, you are very mean-spirited.”
Fownes shrugged his shoulders. “As a servant should be,” he muttered bitterly. ”

“ For a moment the officer sat with a scowl on his face, then suddenly he threw it off, and with a hearty, friendly manner said: “Nay, Miss Meredith, think naught of it. You ’re welcome ten times over to the money, and what more ye shall ever need.” He rose as he spoke, and held out his hand toward the girl. “Generosity is not the monopoly of razorless youngsters of twenty.”
Janice, ignoring the hand, said: “Once again, Lord Clowes, I ask you to inform me of the amount of our debt, which if you will not tell me, you will force me to leave all the money.” ”

“ Before the earl had finished what he was writing, he was again interrupted, and the new-comer proved to be Major Hennion, clothed in an old suit of butternut-coloured linen. And as if in laying aside his red coat, shorts, and boots he had as well laid aside military rank, he seemed to have already reverted to his old slouch.
“Good,” exclaimed Cornwallis, as he rose. “Are your other preparations all made?”
“Every one, general; and my horse and pack are already at the river-side.” ”

“ Till I say nay, tea is drunk at Greenwood,” and the squire’s fist came down on the table with a bang.
“Folks say that Congress will shut up the ports,” said the young man.
“Ay. And British frigates will open ‘em. The people are mad, sir, Bedlam mad, with the idea of liberty, as they call it. Liberty, indeed! when they try to say what a man shall do in his own house; what he shall eat; what he shall wear. And this Congress! We, A and B, elect C to say what the rest of the alphabet shall do, under penalty of tar and feathers, burned ricks, or—don’t talk to me, sir, of a Congress. ”

“ No bread, no meat, no firewood; sick wife, sick baby, sick mother, sick anything that can be whined about. Body o’ me, must we not merely die by bullets or starvation, but suffer a thousand deaths meantime with endless whimpering!
“Slowly, slowly, Mobray,” advised he who faced Janice. “This is no nasal-voiced and putty-faced cowardly old Quaker. ’T is a damned pretty maid, with eyes and a waist and an ankle fit to be a toast. Ay, and she can mantle divinely, when she’s admired!”
“Ye don’t foist that take-in on me, John André! ”

“ For a moment Sir Frederick stood speechless, then he held out his hand, saying: “And a good fellow, I doubt not, despite a bad trade. Fair lady,” he continued after the handshake, “since we are doomed for the moment to be captives of some one other than thee, help to cheer us in the exchange by filling us each a parting glass. Come, Charlie, canst give us one of thy old-time toasts?”
Brereton laughed, as he took a glass from the girl. “’T is hardly possible, with ladies present, to fit thy taste, Fred. However, here goes: Honour, fame, love, and wealth may desert us, but thirst is eternal.” ”

“ Meredith, indignantly. “Nor do I believe that even the rank and file would take such advantage of two helpless women as thou art seeking to do.”
“Tush! I may state it o’er plainly; but my intention is merely to make clear for your own good that ye have no other option but that I offer ye.”
“Any insults would be easier to bear than yours,” declared Janice, indignantly; “and theirs would be for once, while yours are unending.”
“Such folly is enough to make one forswear the whole sex,” the commissary angrily replied. “Nor am I the man to put up with such womanish humoursomeness. ”

“ Relieved to know who it was, but too breathless to make reply, Janice leaned against the lintel until a sleepy soldier gave them entrance. There was a further delay while Lord Clowes ignited a dip from the lamp and lighted her to the stairway. Here he handed it to her, but retaining his own hold, so as to prevent her departing, he said—
“I lost my temper at hearing that young scamp make such ardent love, and so I spoke harshly to ye. Canst not make allowance for a lover’s jealousy?” ”

“ Meredith, delighted to be thus supported, “I have small doubt thy indelicacy with him will land us all in prison. Such folly is beyond belief, and came not from my family, Mr. Meredith,” she added, turning on her husband.
“Well, well, wife; all the folly in the lass scarce comes from my side, for ’t is to be remembered that ye were foolish enough to marry me,” suggested the squire, placably, his anger at his daughter already melted by the sight of her distress. “Don’t be too stern with the child; she is yet but a filly.” ”

“ Meredith. “He ’s no yokel. He moves like a gentleman or a house-servant. Yet he had to make his mark on the covenant.”
“I think, dadda,” said Miss Meredith, in her most calmly judicial manner, “that the new man is a born villain, and has committed some terrible crime. He has a horrid, wicked face, and he stares just as—as—so that one wants to shiver.”
Mrs. Meredith rose. “Janice,” she chided, “thou ’t too young to make thy opinions of the slightest value. Go to thy spinet, child, and don’t let me hear any more such foolish babble. Charles has a good face, and will make a good servant.” ”