"I am Beverly Robinson."
"Indeed! Ah, now I remember. May I ask what brought you here?"
The tory did not like the brusque question, but he was a diplomat and fenced ably.
"I have heard of your prowess on the field and of your sufferings in captivity, and I have felt that, though we differ in politics, we are children of the same mountains and ought to be friends."
"If you are loyal to Vermont, differences of opinion will not affect me."
"Spoken like the brave man I knew you to be."
"Did you come here to tell me this?"
"Partly, and more especially to discuss the future of Vermont."
"Ah!"
"Yes; we are in a strange predicament. We have cut loose from the mother country, and the new country will not have us."