“Is it intimated any are in agitation?”
“Oh! nothing in particular; but it is natural to expect some new enterprise from so powerful a force as that under Rochambeau.”
Harper made an assenting inclination with his head, but no other reply, to this remark; while Mr. Wharton, after lighting his pipe, resumed the subject.
“They appear more active in the south; Gates and Cornwallis seem willing to bring the war to an issue there.”
The brow of Harper contracted, and a deeper shade of melancholy crossed his features; his eye kindled with a transient beam of fire, that spoke a latent source of deep feeling. The admiring gaze of the younger of the sisters had barely time to read its expression, before it passed away, leaving in its room the acquired composure which marked the countenance of the stranger, and that impressive dignity which so conspicuously denotes the empire of reason.
The elder sister made one or two movements in her chair, before she ventured to say, in a tone which partook in no small measure of triumph,—
“General Gates has been less fortunate with the earl, than with General
Burgoyne.”
“But General Gates is an Englishman, Sarah,” cried the younger lady, with quickness; then, coloring to the eyes at her own boldness, she employed herself in tumbling over the contents of her work basket, silently hoping the remark would be unnoticed.
The traveler had turned his face from one sister to the other, as they had spoken in succession, and an almost imperceptible movement of the muscles of his mouth betrayed a new emotion, as he playfully inquired of the younger,—
“May I venture to ask what inference you would draw from that fact?”