"Yes, my son; what has happened?"
"Dunmore's men have raided the Wilton place. Katharine and her father have been carried away by that brute Johnson, who commanded the party. Seymour has been wounded in defending Katharine. I have brought him here. This is the way," he went on fiercely, "his majesty the king wages war on his beloved subjects of Virginia."
"'They that take the sword, shall perish with the sword,'" she quoted with equal resolution.
"And Blodgett is killed too," he added.
"What else have those who rebel against their rightful monarch a right to expect?" she replied. "Is Mr. Seymour seriously wounded?"
"No, madam," answered that young man, from the carriage; "but I fear me my cause makes me an unwelcome visitor."
"Nay, not so, sir. No wounded helpless man craving assistance can ever be unwelcome at my—at the home of the Talbots, whatever his creed. How died Blodgett, did you say, Hilary?"
"Fighting for his master, at the foot of the path, shot by those ruffians."
"So may it be to all enemies of the king," she replied; "but after all he was a brave man. 'T is a pity he fell in so poor a cause."
And that was thy epitaph, old soldier; that thy requiem, honest
Blodgett,—from friend and foe alike,—"He was a brave man."