ARNOLD’S TEMPTER
CHAPTER I
Roderick Barclugh was invited to dine with the FitzMaurices and Benedict Arnold was to meet him.
The arrival in Philadelphia of a gentleman with credentials from Dr. Franklin to the Secretary of Congress, who had much influence with the French Court, and who had bills of exchange for twenty thousand pounds sterling created stirring comment among the fashionables. He was to meet without delay the choice spirits on the inside of Philadelphia’s aristocratical party.
Robert FitzMaurice’s mansion, to which had been made great additions, to suit the tastes of the new proprietor, was an old Colonial landmark. The ambition of this merchant prince and financier had ever been to establish his family and his fortunes under the English system of aristocracy, upon such a grand scale of magnificence that he could claim all the blandishments of a crest and a title which, of course, belong to a person of substance. His entertainments were numerous, and there gathered all the intriguers in and out of Congress,—those who sanctioned the Revolution on political grounds but who shuddered at the utterance of the word ‘democracy.’ The clergy, the judiciary, the lawyers, the knights-errant and the financiers, found congenial atmosphere and hospitality in this house; for schemes were there laid to win independence, but, once won, the English Constitution and its institutions of aristocracy and finance were the only safeguards of prosperity and liberty which the common people should consider.
Upon the occasion of the dinner for Roderick Barclugh, the guests most suitable for an affair of such financial and political importance were to be Judge Shippen and his charming daughter, Bessie; General Arnold and his bride, formerly Miss Peggy Shippen; Reverend Mr. White, Rector of St. Peter’s and brother to Mrs. FitzMaurice; Thomas Milling and Mrs. Milling; Mr. Wilson, a lawyer, and chief coadjutor in aristocratic plans. Besides the foregoing, Colonel Hamilton, the aide of General Washington, being in Philadelphia on business, and Roderick Barclugh completed the list of the older set. A bevy of young and attractive belles of the day were invited to give spirit to the party. These were Miss Chew, daughter of Judge Chew, a suspected Tory; Miss Logan, a representative of an old and distinguished Quaker family; and Miss Greydon, a beauty and wit, who, by the way, was the only personage present of advanced democratic belief.
At half-past five the coach-and-four of General Arnold rolled into the porte cochere of the FitzMaurice mansion, and the General, dressed with wine-colored coat and knee breeches, buckles and velvet waistcoat, lace frills in his sleeves and bosom, gallantly escorted his young and brilliant wife up the steps into the spacious hallway.
Roderick Barclugh arrived with Mr. Wilson in the latter’s carriage. Liveried lackeys bowed and scraped at every turn as the guests arrived and retired to the dressing-rooms, and afterwards presented themselves to the hostess and host in the reception room. The elegant apparel and polished manners of Roderick Barclugh impressed everybody present with a feeling that he was a man of affairs.
As General Arnold came into the room bearing on his arm Mrs. Arnold,—blushing, beautiful and distingue—, both stepping up urbanely to greet the hostess and host, Roderick Barclugh read family domination in the hauteur and firm mouth of the young dame.
As the hostess turned to Roderick Barclugh she said: