Peggy Owen, Patriot: A Story for Girls
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CHAPTER XXIV--THE REASON WHY
"Yet remember this: God and our good cause fight upon one side."
--"Richard III," Act 5.
It was seven o'clock before Peggy awakened the next morning. With anexclamation at her tardiness in rising she dressed hastily, and wentdown-stairs. Colonel Owen and Harriet were already in the dining-room atbreakfast. They brightened visibly as the maiden returned theirgreetings serenely, and took her place at the table.
"So you have determined to accept the situation," observed Colonel Owen,giving her a keen glance.
"Until a way is opened for me to leave, sir," replied Peggy.
"Which will be at my pleasure," he rejoined. But to this she made noreply. "I am assisting Colonel Montressor, who is in charge of thedefenses of the city," he remarked presently. "When your horses are wellrested you girls shall ride about with me."
"We have been riding almost every day the past winter with father," saidPeggy, trying not to choke over the word. "The weather hath been sopleasant that it hath been most agreeable for riding. There are prettyrides over the hills and dales near the camp."
"You will find them no less beautiful here," he assured her. "And now Imust go. Sir Henry will wish to see you during the day, Harriet."
"Very well," she answered. "And I must see about some new frocks,father. I misdoubt that my boxes will be sent after me from the rebelcamp. Mr. Washington will not be so thoughtful anent the matter as SirHenry was. I shall need a number of new ones."
"More gowns, Harriet!" he exclaimed. "You will ruin me by yourextravagance. Haven't you anything that will do?"
"I dare say that I can make shift for a time," she replied. "But la!what's the use of being in His Majesty's service unless one profits byit?"
"That seems to be the opinion of every one connected with it," heobserved grimly.
"Harriet," spoke Peggy timidly, uncertain as to the manner herproposition would be received, "I can sew very well indeed. Let me bringsome of thy old frocks up to the mode. 'Twill save thy father money, andin truth things are monstrously high. That was one reason mother and Ijoined father in camp. Thee admired that cream brocade of mine that wasmade from mother's wedding gown. Let me see if I cannot do as well withsome of thy finery."
"That's all very well for you rebels," spoke Harriet with some scorn,"but when one is with English nobility 'tis another matter. Father, whatdo you think? They sometimes wore homespun at camp even to the dinners.They were always busy at something, and now here Peggy wants to getright into sewing. Americans have queer ideas of amusement."
"If there is one thing that I admire about the Americans 'tis the mannerin which they bring up their daughters," remarked her father withemphasis. "I have yet to see a girl of these colonies who was notproficient in housewifely arts. If Peggy can help you fix over some ofyour things let her. And do try to pattern after her thrifty ways,Harriet."
"Peggy is quite welcome to fix them for herself," said Harriet with acurl of her lips, and a slight shrug of her shoulders. "I shall get somenew ones."
Colonel Owen sighed, but left the room without further protest. Theconversation set Peggy to thinking, and observing. There was indeedluxury on every hand, but there was also great waste. Wherever theBritish army settled they gave themselves up to such amusements as thecity afforded or they could create. Fear, fraud and incompetence reignedin every branch of the service, and between vandalism and thenecessities of war New York suffered all the woes of a besieged city. Inthe endeavor to keep pace with his spendthrift superiors her cousin'shousehold expenditures had run into useless excess.
Harriet plunged at once into the gaiety of the city with all the abandonof her nature, and Peggy, much against her inclination, was of necessitycompelled to enter into it also. There were rides every clear day whichrevealed the strong defenses of the city. New York was in truth but afortified camp. A first line of defense extended from the heights ofCorlear's Hook across the island to the Hudson. There was still anotherline further up near the narrow neck of land below Fort Washington,while a strong garrison guarded the outlying post of Kingsbridge. Peggysoon realized that unless she was given wings she could never hope topass the sentinels. Every afternoon in the Grand Battery along the bay aGerman band of hautboys played for the amusement of the officers andtownspeople, and here Peggy met many of the young "macaroni" officers orfeminine "toasts" of the city. She grew weary of the incessant round ofentertainments. There had been much social intercourse at the camp, butit had been tempered by sobriety, and life was not wholly given up toit. Peggy resolved that she would have to occupy herself in other ways.
"Cousin William," she said one morning, seeking Colonel Owen in hisstudy, where he sat looking over some papers with a frowning brow, "mayI talk with thee a little?"
"Is it anent the matter of home?" he queried. "I can do nothing, Peggy.You will have to stay here. We can't have a rebel come into our linesand then leave, you know."
"I know," she answered sorrowfully. "I want to go home, but 'twas not ofthat I came to speak."
"Of what then?" he asked.
"Thee lives so well," she said with a blush at her temerity, "and yet,sir, there is so much waste. Thee could live just as well yet there needbe no excess. I wish, Cousin William, that thee would let me look afterthe household while I am here. I care naught for the pleasurings, and'twould occupy me until such time as thee would let me go home," sheadded a trifle wistfully. "I could not do so well as mother, but yet Ido feel that I could manage more thriftily than thy servants."
"Peggy," he cried springing to his feet, "I hoped for this. You owe me agreat deal, and 'tis as well to begin to pay some of your debt. That iswhy I brought you here."
"I owe thee anything?" she asked amazed. "How can that be?"
"Think you that I have forgotten the time spent in your house, my littlecousin? Think you that I, an officer in His Majesty's service, do notresent that I was given in exchange for a dragoon?"
"If thee thinks that I owe thee anything, my cousin, I will be glad topay it," said Peggy regarding him with wondering, innocent eyes. "I amsorry thee holds aught against me."
Colonel Owen had the grace to blush.
"Harriet hath no housewifely tastes," he said hastily, "and my sonshares her extravagant habits. Between them and the necessity ofmaintaining a position befitting an officer, I am like to come to grief.You are a good little thing, after all, Peggy. And now let me take youabout and put you in charge."
And thus it came that Peggy found herself installed at the head of hercousin's household. The position was no sinecure. She made mistakes, fornever before had she been thrown so entirely upon her own resources, butshe had been well trained, and the result was soon apparent in thelessened expenditures. The experience was of great benefit to her, andshe grew womanly and self-reliant under the charge. Her cousin's mannertoo underwent a most pleasing transformation. He was kindly, and butseldom made cutting and sarcastic speeches at her expense. Upon theother hand, she was subjected to a petty tyranny from Harriet quite atvariance with her former deportment.
And the spring passed into summer; summer waxed and waned, and in allthat time there had come no word from her father or mother, nor hadthere been opportunity for her to send them any. That the war was goingdisastrously against the patriots in the South she could not but gatherfrom the rejoicings of the British. Of the capture of Stony Point on theHudson by the Americans she was kept in ignorance. The influx of a largebody of troops and militia into the city, the surrounding of the islandby forty men-of-war, told that Sir Henry Clinton feared attack. And sothe summer passed.
In December the troops from Rhode Island were hastily withdrawn, thecity strongly fortified, and everything indicated a movement of somekind. Peggy tried to ascertain what it was, but for some time could notdo so. The snow which had begun falling in November now increased in thefrequency of the storms, scarcely a day passed without
its fall. Thecold became severe, and ice formed in rivers and bay until at lengthboth the Hudson and Sound rivers were frozen solidly. The bay alsobecame as terra firma, and horses, wagons and artillery passed over theice to Staten Island.
"Is our stock of fire-wood getting low, Peggy?" inquired Colonel Owenone morning, laying down the "Rivington Gazette" which he was reading."The paper speaks of the growing scarcity of wood, and says that if thesevere weather continues we will be obliged to cut down the trees in thecity for fuel."
"I ordered some yesterday from the woodyards," Peggy told him. She wasstanding by one of the long windows overlooking the frozen Hudson. Hownear New Jersey seemed. Men and teams were at that moment passing overthe ice on their way to and from the city. How easy it looked to goacross. She turned to him suddenly. "How much longer am I to stay,Cousin William?" she asked.
"Till the war closes," he said laughing. As a shadow passed over herface he added: "And that won't be much longer, my little cousin. Thereis a movement on foot that is going to bring it to a close before yourealize what hath happened. We have at last got your Mr. Washington in acul de sac from which he cannot escape."
"Where is General Washington, my cousin?" asked she quickly.
"On the heights of Morristown, in New Jersey. Nay," he laughed as asudden eager light flashed into her eyes, "you cannot reach him, Peggy.If you could get through the lines, which you cannot, for the guardshave been increased to prevent surprise, you could not go through theforest. The snow lies four feet on the level. You could not get throughthe woods. But cheer up! I promise you a glimpse of your hero soon. Thewar is on its last legs."
Peggy gazed after him with troubled eyes as he left the room. What wasthe new movement on foot? Pondering the matter much she went about theduties of the day. About the middle of the forenoon an ox cart with thewood she had ordered drove into the stable yard. She uttered anexclamation of vexation as she saw the ragged heap which the driver waspiling. Throwing a wrap about her she hurried into the yard where theteam was.
"Friend," she called severely, for Peggy looked well to the ways of thehousehold, "that is not the way to unload the wood. It must be corded sothat it can be measured."
"Yes, mistress," answered the driver, touching his hat.
Peggy started. He had given the military salute instead of the usualcurtsey of the countryman. She looked at him intently. There wassomething strangely familiar about him, she thought, but he was sobundled up that she could only see his eyes. Whistling cheerfully thedriver began to cord the wood as she directed.
"Thou art not o'erstrong for the work," she commented as he struggledvaliantly with a great stick. "I will send one of the stablemen to helpthee."
"Wait, Peggy," he said in a low tone.
"John!" almost screamed the girl. "John Drayton!"