Frances quickly answered, “And is not Henry loyal to his king?”
“Come, come,” said Miss Peyton, “no difference of opinion about the colonel—he is a favorite of mine.”
“Fanny likes majors better,” cried the brother, pulling her upon his knee.
“Nonsense!” said the blushing girl, as she endeavored to extricate herself from the grasp of her laughing brother.
“It surprises me,” continued the captain, “that Peyton, when he procured the release of my father, did not endeavor to detain my sister in the rebel camp.”
“That might have endangered his own liberty,” said the smiling girl, resuming her seat. “You know it is liberty for which Major Dunwoodie is fighting.”
“Liberty!” exclaimed Sarah; “very pretty liberty which exchanges one master for fifty.”
“The privilege of changing masters at all is a liberty.”
“And one you ladies would sometimes be glad to exercise,” cried the captain.
“We like, I believe, to have the liberty of choosing who they shall be in the first place,” said the laughing girl. “Don’t we, Aunt Jeanette?”