“So do I,” I said; “but be that as it may, you know that you and I are devoted to the patriot cause.”
“Aye, truly, sir!” he said.
We saluted each other again with great respect, and I passed into the house.
Belt was still asleep upon the sofa and his fever was going down, though he talked now and then of the things that were on his brain when awake. The candle was dying, the tallow sputtering as the blaze reached the last of it, and without another the thickness of the night would be upon us.
I ascended the stairway into the upper hall again, but this time with no attempt to rival a ghost in smoothness of motion. Instead, I stumbled about like a man in whose head hot punch has set everything to dancing. Presently Mistress Kate, bearing a candle in her hand and dressed as if for the day—at which I was not surprised—appeared from the side door.
I begged her for another candle, if the supply in the house were not exhausted, and stepping back she returned in a moment with what I desired; then in a tone of much sympathy she inquired as to the state of Lieutenant Belt’s health. I said he was sleeping peacefully, and suggested that she come and look at him, as she might have sufficient knowledge of medicine to assist me in the case. To which she consented, though ever one of the most modest of maidens.
I held the candle near Belt’s face, but in such position that the light would not shine into his eyes and awaken him.
“But the lieutenant would rather be on his feet again and in these garments,” I said, turning the light upon Belt’s uniform, which I had carefully spread out again on the foot of the couch. Then I added: