" It is as you say," she said ; " but when one reads French histories one finds French victories over the English also."
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Which is very true, for it is a great gain to the glory of any country to have expert historians.
" We will underrate the French," I said, " for that would depreciate such triumphs as we have achieved in conflict with them."
"You make very little of Americans," she said. " Do you not think that you will also have to reckon with my misguided countrymen ? "
"Mere louts," I said, thinking that at last I had found a way to provoke her into an expression of her real opinions. " Perchance they might do something if they were trained and properly armed. But, as they are, they cannot withstand the British bayonet."
She looked at me with some curiosity, at which I was gratified, but, in imitation of her owu previous example, I had discharged expression from my face.
" I had thought sometimes, Lieutenant Melville," she said, " that you had been moved to sympathy for these people, these rebels."
"Then you are much mistaken, Miss Desmond," I said, " although I hope I am not hard of heart. I am most loyal to the king, and hope for his complete triumph. How could I be otherwise, when yo u, who are American-born, set me such a noble example ? "
" That is but the language of compliment, Lieu- tenant Melville," she said, " the courtly speech that you have learned in London drawing-rooms, and pardon me for saying it means nothing."
" It might mean nothing with other men," I said, losing somewhat of my self-possession, " but it does mean something with me."
"I do not understand you, Lieutenant Melville," 251
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she said, turning upon rue an inquiring look. " You seem to speak in metaphors to-night."
" If so," I replied, " I may again plead your noble example. I do no't understand you at all to-night, Miss Desmond."
"Our conversation has been of a military char- acter,' she replied, smiling for the first time. " So gallant an officer as you, Lieutenant Melville, should understand that, while all of it may well be a puzzle to me, a woman, whom the sound of a trumpet frightens, it is easy enough for you to compre- hend it."
" It is this time I who ask the pardon, Miss Des- mond," I replied, " if I say that is the language of compliment, of the drawing-room."
She made no reply, but bent forward to inhale the odor of a flower that blossomed near her. I too was silent, for I knew not whether she wished me to go or stay, or cared naught for either. From the draw- ing-room came the sound of music, but she made no movement to go.
" I have had thoughts about you, too, Miss Des- mond," I said, at length, after some minutes of embarrassment, for me at least.
" I trust that such thoughts have been of a pleasant nature, Lieutenant Melville," she said, turning her deep eyes upon me again.
" I have thought," I continued, " that you too felt a certain sympathy for the rebels, your misguided countrymen."
" What reasons have I furnished for such a sup- position ? " she replied, coldly. " Are you in the 252
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habit, Lieutenant Melville, of attributing treasonable thoughts to the best friends of the king's cause."
This I thought was carrying the matter to a very extreme point, but it was not for me, who called myself a gentleman, to say so aloud.
" I would not speak of it as treason," I said ; " it seems to me to be in accord with nature that you, who are an American, should feel sympathy for the Americans."
" Then," she replied, " it is you who have treason- able thoughts, and not I."
" I trust I may never falter in doing my duty," I said.
" I trust I may not do so either," she said.
" Then," I exclaimed, flinging away reserve and caution, "why play this part any longer?"
" What part ? " she asked, her eyes still un- fathomable.
" This pretence of Toryism," I cried. " This pre- tence which we both know to be so unreal. Do I not know that you are a patriot, the noblest of pat- riots? Do I not honor you for it? Do I not remember every second of our desperate ride to- gether, and glory in the remembrance ? "
I paused, for I am not accustomed to making high speeches, even when under the influence of strong emotion.
Her eyes wavered, for the first time, and the red flush swept over her face. But she recovered her- self quickly.
"Then say nothing about it, if you would serve me," she said, and rising abruptly she went into the house. 253
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO A Full Con- fession
MARCEL and I had some leisure the next morning at our quarters. " Marcel," said I, " I wish to talk to you on a matter of serious import."
*' It must be of very high import, in truth," said Marcel, " if I may judge of its nature from the solemn look that clothes your face like a shroud."
" It is no matter of jest," I replied, " and it is of close concern to us both."
" Very well," replied Marcel, carelessly, flinging himself into a chair. " Then let it be kept a secret no longer."
" It is this, Marcel," I replied, and I was in deep earnest. " I am tired of the false characters we have taken upon ourselves. The parts are awkward. We do not fit in them. We have been required to serve against our own people. Only luck, undeserved luck, has saved us from the rope. I want to re- assume my own character and my own name, to be myself again."
I spoke with some heat and volubility. I was
about to add that I was sorry ever to have gone into
such a foolish enterprise, but the thought of a fair
woman's face recalled the words. And this brought
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me another thought that I was unwilling to continue this false r6le with Mary Desmond's eyes upon me.
" Is that all ? " asked Marcel, beginning to whistle a gay dancing-tune which some newly arrived officers had brought over from London.
"No, it is not," I replied. " I said I wished to be myself again, and that I mean to be."
"I think I shall do likewise," said Marcel, cutting off his tune in the beginning. " I am tired of this piece of stage-play myself, but I wanted you to say so first."
" It is time to leave it off," I added, " and go back to our duty."
" You speak truly," said Marcel. " It would not be pleasant to be killed by American bullets, or be forced to fire upon our old comrades. And yet the adventure has not been without interest. Moreover, let it not be forgotten that we have had plenty to cat, a good luck which we knew not for two years before."
He said the last in such a whimsical tone of re- gret that I laughed despite myself.
" There is no need to laugh," said Marcel. " A good dinner is a great item to a starving man, and, as you know, I am iiot without experience in the matter of starvation."
Wherein Marcel spoke the truth, for during our long campaigns hunger often vexed us more sorely than the battle.
" I shall be glad to see our comrades and to serve with them again. When will we have a chance to leave ? " he asked.
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" I do not know," I said ; " and I do not see that it matters. I am not going."
"Then will his lordship condescend to explain himself?" said Marcel. "You speak in riddles."
" We have come into this town, Marcel," I said, " in the guise of Englishmen and as the friends of the English. We have eaten and drank with them, and they have treated us as comrades. If I were to steal away, I would think that I had played the part of a mere spy."
" What then ? " asked Marcel.
" I mean to take what I consider to be the hon- orable course," I said. " I mean to go to Sir Wil- liam Howe, tell him what I am and what I have done, and yield myself his prisoner."
" You need not look so confoundedly virtuous about it," said Marcel. " I shall go with you and tell what I am and what I have done, and yield myself h
is- prisoner in precisely the same manner that you will. Again I wanted you to say the thing first."
I never doubted that Marcel would do what was right, despite his habitual levity of manner, and his companionship strengthened me in my resolution.
"When shall we go to Sir William?" asked Marcel.
" To-day, within the hour," I said.
" Do you think he will hang us as spies ? " asked Marcel, gruesomely.
" I do not know," I said. " I think there is some chance that he will."
In truth, this was a matter that weighed much 236
A Full Confession
upon me. Do not think that I was willing to be a a martyr, or wanted to die under any circumstances. Nothing was further from my desires.
" He is like enough to be in a very bad humor," said Marcel, " over his failures and his removal from the chief command. I wish for our sakes he felt better."
By representing to an aide that our business was of the most pressing importance, we secured admis- sion to Sir William Howe. I think we came into the room before he expected us, for when we entered the doorway he was standing at the window with the grayest look of melancholy I ever saw on any man's face. In that moment I felt both sorrow and pity for him, for we had received naught but kindness at his hands. I stumbled purposely, that I might warn him of our coming, and he turned to meet us, his face assuming a calm aspect.
" You sent word that your business is pressing," he said. "But I hope that Lieutenant Melville and Captain Montague are in good health."
" We know not the bodily condition of Lieutenant Melville and Captain Montague," I said, " but we trust that both are well."
" What sort of jesting is this ? " he said, frowning. "Remember that, though my successor has been appointed, I am yet commander-in-chief."
" It is no jest," I replied. " We speak in the utmost respect to you. I am not Lieutenant Mel- ville of the British army, nor is my friend Captain Montague. Those officers are prisoners in the hands of the Americans."
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" Then who are you ? " he asked.
" We are American officers," I replied, " who, in a moment of rashness and folly, took the places of Captain Montague and Lieutenant Melville."
" Is this truth or insanity ? " he asked, sharply,,
" I think it is both," I replied, soberly.
He smiled somewhat, and then asked more ques- tions, whereupon I told the whole story from first to last, furnishing such proofs that he could not doubt what I said. For a while he sat in a kind of maze. Then he said,
"Are you aware, gentlemen, that the most natural thing for me to do is to hang you both as spies ? "
We admitted with the greatest reluctance that the laws of war would permit it.
" Still, it was but a mad prank," said Sir William, " and you have given yourselves up when you might have gone away. I cannot see of what avail it would b e to the British cause, to me, or to any one to hang you. I like you both, and you, Lieutenant Chester, as you call yourself, and as I suppose you are, threw that Hessian colonel into the street for me so handsomely that I must ever be in your debt, and I don't suppose that you had anything to do with the attempt of that villian, Wildfoot ; moreover, it seems that you are quite capable of hanging yourselves in due time. I will spare the gallows. But I wish you were Englishmen, and not Americans."
I felt as if the rope were slipping off our necks
when Sir William spoke these words, and my spirits
rose with most astonishing swiftness. I must say
that Sir William Howe, though a slothful man and
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a poor general, was kind of heart sometimes, and I have never liked to hear people speak ill of him.
" Your case," he said, " is likely to be a source of mighty gossip in this town ; but I shall not leave you here long to enjoy your honors. We exchange for Lieutenant Belfort and some prisoners who are 111 the hands of the rebels. You will be included in the exchange, and you will leave Philadelphia soon. You need not thank inc. In truth, I ought to hang you as spies ; but I am curious to know what act of folly you will commit next."
I ana confident that Sir William in reality liked us greatly, for he was fond of adventure. Perhaps that was the reason he was not a better general.
" I shall have to place you under guard," said Sir William, calling an aide, " and if ever this war ends and we are alive then, I should like to see you both in England, and show you off as the finest pair of rascals that ever deserved to be hanged and were not."
" It appears to me that we came out of that matter easily," said Marcel, as we left the room.
We remained for a while in Philadelphia as prisoners of the British, and, to our great amazement and equal pleasure, found ourselves heroes with the men who had been our comrades there for a brief space. They considered it the finest and boldest adventure of which they had heard, and Marcel's new cousin, Rupert Harding, was not last in his appreciation.
"I think that I shall prefer you to the real 259
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cousin, when I see him," said Harding to Marcel, " and I shall always claim the kinship."
We parted from them with sincere regret when Sir Henry Clinton, who, succeeding Sir William Howe in the chief command, saw no reason to change the Litter's plan in this matter, sent us to the American army in exchange for Belfort and others.
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CHAPTER TWENTY THREE George Washington's Mercy
BOB," said Marcel, as we rode under es- cort towards the American army, " the British have dealt handsomely with us, we have no right to complain of Sir William Howe, but how about the Americans? "
" The Americans are our countrymen."
" Which proves nothing. When I am at fault, I would rather receive the sentence of my official enemy than that of my official friend."
"Don't talk of it," I replied. "We have fared so well in the first four acts of tin's play that our luck cannot change consistently in the fifth and last."
" Yet I would there were no fifth," he grumbled. I said nothing more, wishing to dismiss the subject from my mind. But I had been thinking of it before Marcel spoke, and his words chimed so well with my own thoughts that my apprehensions grew. The subject would not depart merely because I ordered it to do so. We had left our army without leave. Practically, we were deserters, and General Washington, as all the world knows, was a severe man where a question of military discipline was con* cerned,
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" But I am not sorry I went," I said aloud. I was thinking of Mary Desmond and that thrilling night ride of ours when the hoof-beats of my horse rang side by side with the hoof-beats of hers. I re- membered the flush on her face and the light in her eye.
" I am not sorry either," said Marcel, aloud. Ot what he was thinking I do not know. Perhaps that same wild strain in his blood which had led us into the adventure was speaking. Yet I should, and shall be, the last man in the world to blame him r'or it.
It was a glorious day. The wind blew, the grass waved, and the sun shone. A young man could not remain unhappy long over misfortunes yet unfelt. My memories were pleasant and so were my com- rades. A half dozen other American officers, to be exchanged for an equal number of the enemy, accom- panied us, and the two British officers in charge of the escort, of whom Catron was one, were men of wit, manners, and friendly temper. We made a lively party and found one another agreeable. We had always possessed the liking of Catron, but in truth we now seemed to have his unbounded admiration as well.
" Ta-ra-ra, ta-ra-ra," rang the British bugle through the forest, announcing our approach to the American f t rmy. The journey had been all too fast. I never thought that I would part from an enemy with 60 much reluctance, and I became grave again when the first American sentinel stopped us.
Our mission was explained, and an officer came 262
George Washington* s Mercy
; and attended to the exchange. We bade our friends tae British, good-bye, and then, according to orders, walked towards headquarters for instructions. As we passed down one of the camp streets we heard a cry of surprise, and looking about saw Sergeant Pritchard to whom we had once bade a good-bye that he thought would be eternal.
We dropped back a little behind the others.
" Sergeant Pritchard," said Marcel, " you owe me a dinner, but as provisions are scarce in the American wimp I will not collect it."
This was generous of Marcel, but I suspect that the true cause was his unwillingness to dine in state with a sergeant.
" I reported that you had taken the places of the Englishmen and gone to Philadelphia," replied the good sergeant " He made no comment in my presence, and I know not what he said to the gen- eral about it. Nor do I know what will come of the matter."
Then he shook his head gloomily.
* General Washington should behave as hand- somely as Sir William Howe," said Marcel, and I was quite sure that it was General Washington's duty to do so.
I acted as spokesman, and laid the case before our colonel, concealing nothing save my ride with Mary Desmond. He was a middle-aged man, amiable, and he liked us. In truth, both us had been fortunate enough to receive his praise for good service in action, but he could see no mitigating circumstances.
" There is nothing to do but report the case to 263
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the coramander-in-chief," he said. " I am sorry, f-r I esteem you two boys, and you have been ot value."
Altsheler, Joseph - [Novel 09] Page 20