“I admire your frankness, Miss Brandon, as I do that of Miss Newville. Have you a pen at hand?”
Ruth brought a pen and ink-horn; General Howe wrote upon the document, and handed it to her.
“I cannot go back on my promise to do something for you, Miss Newville, to add to your happiness and Miss Brandon’s, and I trust I never shall do anything that will lead you to think I am insensible to the claims of humanity,” he said, bowing and taking his departure.
Berinthia read what he had written:—
It is hereby ordered by the general-in-chief commanding his majesty’s forces, that Miss Brandon shall be allowed to remain in possession of her home till this order shall be countermanded.
Howe, Major-General.
In bright uniform, with stars upon his breast, Colonel Hardman, accompanied by the members of his staff, knocked at the door of the Brandon home. Mark Antony was unceremoniously pushed aside, and the officers entered the hall.
“You can inform the lady of the house, nigger, that Colonel Hardman and staff have come to take possession of the premises and”—
The sentence was not finished, for Berinthia, queenly in her dignity, stood before him. Colonel Hardman, obedient to etiquette, removed his hat. It was not an old woman, wrinkled and toothless, but a young lady, calm and self-possessed, confronting him.