“I have little sympathy with him as he has become very imperious and overbearing of late, since he married Peggy Shippen. He did not have the fortune or the position in society to marry such an ambitious girl as Margaret; she needed a baronet,” volunteered Mrs. FitzMaurice, who had the faculty of speaking her mind.
“It is a question which one has the most ambition, Mrs. Arnold or the General, since they have moved into their new country home, ‘Mount Pleasant’ on the Schuylkill. Have you attended any of their gorgeous entertainments? No wonder his ambition runs away with him. They both love luxury and they need money,” chimed in Sally Redman, who loved to have people realize that she knew a few things about the gay world.
“Let me whisper something. It must never be repeated. The French Minister refused General Arnold a loan. I have it from very direct sources,” volunteered Charles Bingham.
“Did he go to the French Minister himself?” queried Barclugh.
“Yes,” replied Bingham, and the whole group laughed heartily.
“Hush! Here they come now,” whispered Anne Milling as she gave Mr. Bingham a touch on his arm.
The General and his wife came up arm in arm, all smiles when the group just referring to them turned and greeted the Commander of Philadelphia and his wife most cordially:
“Why, how do you do, General? How do you do, Peggy, my dear? I am so glad to see you,” said Mrs. FitzMaurice in her sweetest tones and with a smile for both of them.
Mrs. Arnold at once addressed herself to Roderick Barclugh and the General to M. de la Luzerne, who had just joined the group.
“I hope that we may see you out to ‘Mount Pleasant’ very soon, Mr. Barclugh. My sister, Bessie, is now visiting me and it would give us the greatest pleasure to see you. Tuesdays are our days. Then, I must tell you”—in her most pleasing tones—“the General has taken a very great interest in you of late.”