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"I will hold my peace, if that seems best for Miss Meredith;
not otherwise, my Lord," answered Mobray, flinging from the
room.

The baronet mounted his horse, and, stabbing his spurs into
him, galloped madly down Market Street, and then up Second
Street to where it forked into two country roads. Here the
lines of British fortifications intersected it, and a picket of
cavalry forced the rider to draw rein and show his pass. This
done, he rode on, though at a more easy pace, and an hour
later entered the village of Germantown. In front of the
Roebuck Inn a guidon, from which depended a white flag,
had been thrust into the ground, and grouped about the door
of the tavern was a small party of Continental light horse.
Trotting up to them, Mobray dismounted, and, after an inquiry
and a request to one of them to take his horse, he
entered the public room. To its one occupant, who was
seated before the fire, he said: "The dragoons outside told
me the reb--the Continental commissioners were here.
Canst tell me where they are to be found, fellow?"

The person addressed rose from his seat, revealing clothes
so soiled and tattered, and a pair of long boots of such shabby
appearance, as to give him the semblance of some runaway
prentice or bond-servant, but over his shoulder passed a green
ribbon and sword sash which marked their wearer as a field
officer; and as the baronet realised this he removed his hat
and bowed.

"Since when did you take to calling your superior officers
'fellows,' Sir Frederick?" asked the other, laughing.

With a cry of recognition, Mobray sprang forward, his hand
outstretched. "Charlie!" he exclaimed. "Heavens, man,
we have made a joke in the army of the appearance of thy
troops, but I never thought to see the exquisite of the Mall
in clothes not fit for a tinker."

"My name, Fred, is John Brereton," corrected the officer,
"which is a change for the better, I think you will own. As
for my clothes, I'll better them, too, if Congress ever gives us
enough pay to do more than keep life in us. Owing to depreciation,
a leftenant-colonel is allowed to starve at present
on the equivalent of twenty-five dollars, specie, a month."

"And yet you go on serving such masters," burst out
Mobray. "Come over to us, Charl--John. Sir William
would give you--"

"Enough," interrupted Brereton, angrily. "For how long,
Sir Frederick, have you deemed me capable of treachery?"

"'T is no treachery to leave this unnatural rebellion and
take sides with our good king."

"Such talk is idle, and you should know it, Mobray. A
word with you ere Grayson and Boudinot--who have gone
to look at that marplot house of Cliveden which frustrated all
our hopes four months since--return and interrupt us. I
last saw you at the Merediths'; can you give me word of
them?"

"Only ill ones, alas!" answered the captain. "Their
necessities are such that I fear me they are on the point of
giving their daughter to that unutterable scoundrel, Clowes."

Jack started as if he had been stung. "You cannot mean
that, man! We sent you word he had broke his parole."

"Ay," replied the baronet, flushing. "And let me tell you,
John, that scarce an officer failed to go to Sir William and
beg him to send the cur back to you."

"And you mean that Mr. Meredith can seriously intend to
give Miss Janice to such a creature?"

"I fear 't is as good as decided. You know the man, and
how he gets his way, curse him!"

"I'd do more than that, could I but get into Philadelphia,"
declared Jack, hotly. "By heavens, Fred--"

But here the entrance of other officers interrupted them,
and Colonel Brereton was set to introducing Boudinot and
Grayson to the British officer.

Scarcely had they been made known to each other when
Mobray's fellow-commissioners, Colonel O'Hara and Colonel
Stevens, with a detail of dragoons, came trotting up; and so
soon as credentials were exchanged the six sat down about a
table in a private room to discuss the matter which had
brought them together. One of the first acts of Mobray was
to ask for a look at the Continental lists of prisoners; and
after a hurried glance through them, he turned and said to
Brereton in a low voice: "We had word in Philadelphia that
Leftenant Hennion died of a fever."

"'T is a false rumour," replied Brereton. "If I could I'd
see that he failed of an exchange till the end of the war; and
I would that one of our officers in your hands could be kept
by you for an equal term."

"Who is that?" asked Mobray.

"That rascal, Charles Lee," muttered Brereton. "But,
though he openly schemed against General Washington, and
sought to supersede him, his Excellency is above resentment,
and has instructed us to obtain his exchange among the first."

In the arrangement of details of the cartel Brereton showed
himself curiously variable, at times sitting completely abstracted
from what was being discussed, and then suddenly entering
into the discussions, only to compel an entire going over of
points already deemed settled, and raising difficulties which
involved much waste of time.

"Confound it!" said O'Hara presently, after a glance at
his watch. "At this rate we shall have to take a second day
to it."

"Beyond question," assented Jack, with a suggestion of
eagerness. "Gentlemen, I invite you to dinner, and there
are good sleeping-rooms above."

"'T is out of the question," replied Stevens. "We officers
give a masked ball in the city to-night, and I am one of the
managers."

"Well, then," urged Brereton, "at least stay and dine with
me at three, and you shall be free to leave by six. 'T is not
much over an hour's ride to the city."

"That we'll do with pleasure," assented O'Hara.

"Go on with the discussion, then, while I speak to the landlord,"
remarked Jack, rising and passing to the kitchen. "We
wish a dinner for six," he informed the publican, "by three
o'clock" Then in a low voice he continued: "And hark
you! One thing I wish done that is peculiar. Give us such
whiskey as we call for of thy best, with lemons and sugar, but
in place of hot water in the kettle, see to it that as often as it
is replenished, it be filled with thy newest and palest rum.
Understand?"

"Jerusalem!" ejaculated mine host. "You gentlemen of
the army must have swingeing strong heads to dilute whiskey
with raw rum."

"I trust not," replied the aide, drily.

When dinner was announced Brereton drew Grayson aside
for a moment and whispered: "'T is a matter of life and
death to me that these fellows be made too drunk to ride,
Will, yet to keep sober myself. You've got the head and
stomach of a ditcher; wilt make a sacrifice of yourself for my
sake?"

"And but deem it sport," replied Grayson, with a laugh;
and as he took his place at the table he remarked: "Gentlemen,
we have tested British valour, we have tested British.
courtesy, and found them not wanting, but we understand
that, though you turn not your backs to either our soldiery or
our ladies, there is one thing which can make you tremble,
and that is our good corn whiskey."

"Odds life!" cried O'Hara, "who has so libelled us?
Man, we'd start three glasses ahead of you, and then drink
you under the table, on a challenge, but for this ball that we
are due at."

"A pretty brag," scoffed Brereton, "since you have an excuse
to avoid its test. But come, we have three good hours; but
drink Grayson even in that time, and I will warrant you'll
not be able to sit your horses. Come, fill up your glasses
from decanter and kettle, and I will give you a toast to
begin, to which you must drink bumpers. Here 's to the
soldier who fights and loves, and may he never lack for
either."

Four hours later, when Brereton rose from the table,
Stevens and O'Hara were lying on the floor, Boudinot was
fallen forward, his head resting among the dishes on the table,
fast asleep, and Mobray and Grayson, clasped in each other's
arms, were reeling forth different ditties under the impression
that they were singing the same song. Tiptoeing from the
room, the aide went to the kitchen door and said to the
publican, "Order one of the dragoons to make ready Captain
Mobray's horse, as he wishes to ride back to Philadelphia."
In the passageway he took from the hook the hat, cloak, and
sword of the young officer, and, removing his own sash and
sabre, donned the three. Stealing back to the scene of the
revel, he found Mobray and Grayson now lying on the floor
as well, unconscious, though still affectionately holding each
other. Kneeling gently, he searched the pockets of the unconscious
man until the passport was lighted upon. Thrusting
it into his belt, he stole from the room.

"What are the orders for us, sir?" asked the dragoon who
held Mobray's horse, as the aide mounted.

With an almost perfect imitation of the baronet's voice,
Brereton answered, "Colonel O'Hara will issue directions
later," and then as he cantered down the road he added
gleefully: "Considerably later. What luck that it should be
Fred, whose voice I know so well that I can do it to the life
whenever I choose!" Then he laughed with a note of
deviltry. "I am popping my head into a noose," he said;
"but whether 't is that of hangman or matrimony, time only
will show."

XLV
IN THE JAWS OF THE LION

The ball had been in full progress for an hour when
a masker, who from his entrance had stood leaning
against the wall, suddenly left his isolated position
and walked up to one of the ladies.

"Conceal your face and figure as you will, Miss Meredith,
you cannot conceal your grace. Wilt honour me with this
quadrille?"

"La, Sir Frederick! That you should know me, and I never
dream it was you!" exclaimed the girl, as she gave her hand
and let him lead her to where the figures were being formed.
"There have been many guesses among the caps as to the
identity of him who has held himself so aloof, but not a one
suggested you. The disguise makes you look a good three
inches taller."

As they took position a feminine domino came boldly across
the room to them. "Is this the way you keep your word, Sir
William?" she demanded in a low voice, made harsh and
grating by the fury it expressed.

"You mistake me, madam," answered the dancer, "though
I would such a rapid promotion were a possibility."

The interloper made a startled step backward. "I have
watched you for a quarter hour," she exclaimed, as she turned
away, "and would have sworn to your figure."

"'T is wonderful," remarked Janice, "how deceiving a
domino can be."

The dance ended, her partner said: "Miss Meredith, I
have something to say to you of deepest consequence. Will
you not come away from this crowd?"

"Ah, Sir Frederick," pleaded the girl, "do not recur to it
again. Though you importune me for a day, I could but
make the same reply."

"Sir Frederick passes his word that he will not tease you
on that subject to-night; but speak I must concerning this
match with Lord Clowes."

"'T is in vain, sir," replied Janice; "for every moment
convinces me the more that I must wed him, and so you will
but make my duty the harder."

"I beg you to give me a word apart, for I have a message
to you from Colonel Brereton."

Janice's hand dropped from the officer's arm. "What is
it?" she asked.

"'T is not to be given here," urged the man. "I pray you
to let me order your equipage and take you away. Another
dance will be beginning on the moment, and some one will
claim you."

The girl raised her hand and once more placed it on her
partner's arm; taking the motion as a consent to his wishes,
the officer led her to the doorway.

"Call Miss Meredith's chair," he ordered of the guard
grouped about the outer door, and in a moment was able to
hand her into the vehicle.

"Where to?" he asked. "I mean--Home!" he cried,
in a far louder voice, as if to drown the slip, at the same
moment jumping in and taking his seat beside her.

As he did so, the girl shrank away from him toward her
corner of the gig. "Who are you?" she cried in a frightened
voice.

"Who should I be but John Brereton?"

"Are you mad," cried the girl, "to thus venture within the
lines?"

"The news which brought me was enough to make me so,"
answered Jack. "You cannot know what you are doing that
you so much as think of marrying that scum. For years he
has been nothing but a spy and mackerel, willing to do the
dirtiest work, and the scorn of every decent man in
London, as here. Are you, are your father and mother,
are your friends, all Bedlam-crazed that you even consider
it?"

"'T is as horrible to me as it is to you," moaned Janice;
"but it seems the only thing possible. Oh, Colonel Brereton,
if you but knew our straits,--dependent for all we have, and
with a future still more desperate,--you would not blame me
for anything I am doing." The girl broke into sobs as she
ended, and turning from him leaned her head against the
leathern curtain, where she wept, regardless of the fact that
the aide possessed himself of her hand, and tried to comfort
her, until the chaise drew up at its destination. Lifting rather
than helping her from the carriage, Jack supported the maiden
up the steps and into the hallway; but no sooner were they
there than she freed herself from his supporting arm and exclaimed,
"You must not stay here. Any instant you might
be discovered."

"Then take me to a room where we can be safe for a
moment. I shall not leave you till I have said my say."

"Ah, please!" begged the girl. "Some one is like to enter
even now."

Jack's only reply was to turn to the first door and throw it
open. Finding that all was dark within, he caught Miss
Meredith's fingers, and drew her in after him, saying, as he
did so, "Here we are safe, and you can tell me truly of your
difficulties."

With her hand held in both of the aide's, Janice began a
disconnected outpouring of the tale of her difficulties intermixed
by an occasional sob, caused quite as much by the
officer's exclamations of sympathy as by the misery of her position.
Before a half of it had been spoken one of the hands
grasping hers loosened itself, and she was gently drawn by an
encircling arm till her head could find support on his shoulder;
not resenting and indeed, scarcely conscious of the clasp, she
rested it there with a strange sense of comfort and security.

"Alas!" grieved Brereton, when all had been told, "I am
as deep, if not deeper, in poverty than you, and so I can
give you no aid in money. Bad as things are, however, there
is better possible than selling yourself to that worm, if you
will but take it."

"What?"

"The French have come to our aid at last, and are sending
us a fleet. If Howe will but be as slow as usual, and the
States but hasten their levies, we shall catch him between the
fleet and army and Burgoyne him. Even if he act quickly,
he can save himself only by abandoning Philadelphia and consolidating
his forces at New York. They may then fight on,
for both the strength and the weakness of the British is a natural
stupidity which prevents them from knowing when they are
beaten, but all doubt as to the outcome will be over. Once
more it will be possible for you to dwell at Greenwood, if you
will but--"

"But dadda says they will take it away and exile us,"
broke in Janice.

"I have no doubt the rag-tag politicians, if not too busy
scheming how to cripple General Washington, will set to on
some such piece of folly, for by their persecutions and acts of
outlawry and escheatage they have driven into Toryism enough
to almost offset the Whigs the British plundering has made.
But from this you can be saved if you will but let me." As
the officer ended, the clasp of his arm tightened, though it lost
no element of the caress.

"How?"

"I stand well in the cause; and though I could not, I fear,
save your property to you, they would never take it once it
were in Whig hands, and so by a marriage to me you can secure
it. Ah, Miss Meredith, you have said you do not love
me, and I stand here to-night a beggar, save for the sword I
wear; but I love you as never man loved woman before, and
my life shall be given to tenderness and care for you. Surely
your own home with me is better than exile with that cur!
And I'll make you love me! I'll woo you till I win you, my
sweet, if it take a life to do it." Raising the hand he held,
the aide kissed it fondly. "I know I've given you reason to
think me disrespectful and rough; I know I have the devil's
own temper; but if I've caused you pain at moments, I've
suffered tenfold in the recollection. Can you not forgive
me?" Once again he eagerly caressed her hand; and finding
that she offered no resistance to the endearments, Jack,
with an inarticulate cry of delight, stooped and pressed his
lips to her cheek.

On the instant Janice felt a hand laid on her shoulders, then
on her head, as if some one were feeling of her.

"Who is this?" demanded Jack, lifting his head with a
start.

The question was scarce uttered when the sound of a blow
came to the girl's ears, and the arm which had been supporting
her relaxed its hold, as the lover sank rather than fell to
the floor. With loud screams the girl staggered backward,
groping her way blindly in the dark. There came the sound
of feet hurrying down the hallway, and the door was thrown
open by one of the men servants, revealing, by the shaft of
light which came through it, the figure of Jack stretched on
the floor, with the commissary kneeling upon him, engaged in
binding his wrists with a handkerchief.

"Out to the stables, and get me a guard!" ordered Lord
Clowes. "I have a spy captured here. No; first light those
candles from the lamp in the hall. I advise ye, Miss Meredith,"
he said scoffingly, "that next time ye arrange an assignation
with a lover that ye take the precaution to assure yourself
that the room is unoccupied."

"Oh, Lord Clowes," implored the girl, "won't you let him
go for my sake?"

"That plea is the least likely of any to gain your wish,"
responded the baron, derisively.

"I will promise that I will never wed him, will never see
him again," offered Janice.

"Of that I can give ye assurance," retorted the commissary,
rising and picking up from where he had dropped it the horse
pistol with which he had stunned the unconscious man. "A
drum-head court-martial will sit not later than to-morrow
morning, Miss Meredith, and there will be one less rebel in the
world ere nightfall. Your promise is a fairly safe one to
make. Here," he continued, as the soldiers came running
into the room, "fetch a pail of water and douse it over this
fellow, for I want to carry him before Sir William. Ye were
wise not to remove your wraps, Miss Meredith, for I shall have
to ask your company as well."

When the aide was sufficiently conscious to be able to stand,
he was put between two of the soldiers, and ten minutes later
the whole party reached the house of the commander-in-chief.
Given entrance, without waiting to have their arrival announced,
the commissary led the way through the parlour into
the back room, where, about a supper table, the British commander,
Mrs. Loring, and two officers were sitting.

"Ye must pardon this intrusion, Sir William," explained
Lord Clowes, as Howe, in surprise, faced about, "but we have
just caught a spy red-handed, and an important one at that,
being none less than Colonel Brereton, an aide of Mr. Washington.
Bring him forward, sergeant."

As Jack was led into the strong light, Mrs. Loring started
to her feet with a scream, echoed by an exclamation of "By
God!" from one of the officers, while the three or four glasses
at Howe's place were noisily swept into a jumble by the impulsive
swing of the general's arm as he threw himself backward
and rested against the table.

"Charlie, Charlie!" cried Mrs. Loring. "You here?"

Standing rigidly erect, the aide said coldly, "My name is
John Brereton; nor have I the honour of your acquaintance."

"What's to do here?" ejaculated Lord Clowes. "I know
the man to be what he says, and that he has come in disguise
within our lines to spy."

Without looking at the commissary, Jack answered: "I
wore no disguise when I passed through your lines, nor have
I for a moment laid aside my uniform."

"Call ye those rags a uniform?" jeered the commissary.

Howe gave a hearty laugh. "Why, yes, baron," he
answered. "Know you not the rebel colours by this
time?"

"And how about the domino he wears over them, and the
mask I hold in my hand?" contended Lord Clowes.

"I procured them this evening at the Franklin house in
Second Street, as you will learn by sending some one to
inquire, merely to attend the ball."

A second exclamation broke from Mrs. Loring: "Then
't was you I mistook for--Sir William, I thought 't was you
from his figure."

Again the general laughed. "Ho, Loring," said he
to one of the officers. "What say you to that?"

"Take and hang me, or send me to the pest hole you kill
your prisoners in, but let me get away from here," raged Jack,
white with passion, as he gave a futile wrench in an attempt
to free his hands.

"Art so anxious to be hanged, boy?"

"'T is a fit end to a life begun as mine was!" answered
the aide.

"Oh, Sir William," spoke up Janice," he did not come to spy,
but only to see me. You will not hang him for that, surely?"

"Yoicks! Must you snare, even into the hangman's noose,
every one that looks but at you, Miss Janice? If the day
ever comes when the innocent no longer swing for the guilty,
't is you will be hung."

"We lose time over this badinage, Sir William," complained
the commissary, angrily. "The fellow is a spy without
question."

"He is not," cried Mrs. Loring; "and he shall not even
be a prisoner. You will not hold him, Sir William, when he
came but to see the maid he loves?"

"Come, sir," said the general. "Wilt ask thy life of me?"

"No. And be damned to you!"

"You see, Jane."

"I care not what he says; you shall let him go free."

"Are ye all mad?" fumed the commissary.

"He ever had the art of getting the women on his side,
Clowes," laughed Sir William, good-naturedly. "How the
dear creatures love a man of fire! Look you, boy, with such
a friend as Mrs. Loring--to say nothing of others--no limit
can be set to your advancement, if you will but put foolish
pride in your pocket, and throw in your lot with us."

"I'd sooner starve with Washington than feast with you."

"That 's easily done!" remarked Loring, jeeringly.

"Not so easily as in your prisons," retorted Jack.

"Don't be foolish and stick to your tantrums, lad," persuaded
Howe.

"Is a man foolish who elects to stick to the winning side?
For you are beaten, Sir William, and none know it better than
you."

"Damn thy tongue!" roared Howe, springing up.

"Don't blame him for it, William," cried Mrs. Loring.
"How can he be other than a lad of spirit?"

Howe fell back into his seat. "There 't is again. Ah,
gentlemen, the sex beat us in the end! Well, Jane, since
thou 't commander-in-chief, please issue thy orders."

"Set him free at once."

"We can scarce do that, though we'll not hang him as a
spy, lest all the caps go into mourning. Commissary Loring,
he is yours; we will hold him as a prisoner of war."

"Do that and you must answer for it," said Jack. "You
can hang me as a spy, if you choose, but yesterday I rode into
Germantown under a flag of truce, and on your own pass, as
one of the commissioners of exchange. What word will you
send to General Washington if you attempt to hold me
prisoner?"

"Well done!" exclaimed Howe. "One would almost
think it had been prearranged. Release his arms, sergeant.
Loring, let the boy have a horse and a pass to Germantown.
I rely on your honour, sir, that you take no advantage of what
you have seen or heard within our lines."

Jack bowed assent without a word.

"And now, sir, that you are free," went on Sir William,
"have you no thanks for us?"

"Not one."

"Ah, Charlie," begged Mrs. Loring, "just a single word of
forgiveness."

Without a sign to show he heard her, Jack went to Janice
and took her hand. "Don't forget my pledge. Save you I
can, if you will but let me." He stooped his head slightly
and hesitated for a moment, his eyes fixed on her lips, then
he kissed her hand.

And as he did so, Mrs. Loring burst into tears. "You are
killing me by your cruelty," she cried.

"Ah, Colonel Brereton, say something kind to her!"
begged the girl, impulsively.

Wheeling about, Jack strode forward, till he stood beside
the woman. "This scoundrel," he began, indicating Clowes
with a contemptuous gesture, "is seeking to force Miss Meredith
into a marriage: save her from that, and the wrong you
did me is atoned."

"I will; I will!" replied Mrs. Loring, lifting her head
eagerly. "I'll--Ah, Charlie, one kiss--just one to show
that I am forgiven--No, not for that," she hurriedly added,
as the aide drew back--"to show--for what I will do for
her. Everything I can I will--Just one."

For an instant Brereton hesitated, then bent his head; and
the woman, with a cry of joy, threw her arms about his neck,
and kissed him not once, but five or six times, and would
have continued but for his removing her hands and stepping
backward.