Captain Drayton turned at the call, and an expression of delight swept over his face at sight of the girl. With the jaunty gesture she knew so well he took off his cocked beaver, and came to them quickly.
“Peggy,” he cried, his gladness at seeing her plain to be seen. “You are come at last. Your father told me that you were coming, and I have watched every day for a week for you. Major Dale hath all the luck, to bring you. I should like to have gone, but I could not get leave.”
“And how does thee do, John?”
“Well, Peggy. Well indeed. By the way! you know, I dare say, that your Cousin Clifford is here. I am barracks’ master, and the prisoners are confined in the barracks. Is it not a strange turn of the Wheel of Fortune that he should be in my charge, when a little less than a year ago I was a prisoner under him? He doth not relish it much, either. Is your mother in the coach, Peggy?”
“Yes; with Harriet,” answered Peggy.
“Harriet!” he ejaculated amazed. “Now what doth Harriet want? I thought we had those cousins where they would not trouble you again.”
“Have you seen the lady of whom you speak, Drayton?” asked Robert Dale abruptly.
“Often, major.” Drayton laughed merrily. “There is not much love lost betwixt us, either, although I owe much to her for rescuing me from an exceedingly embarrassing position. She would not let me thank her because, she informed me, that what she did was for Peggy. Now what doth she want, Peggy?”
“She wants to see how Clifford fares, John. Thee is kind to him, I know.”
“I do all that I can, Peggy, because he is your cousin. I’d do much more if he would allow me. You know he never liked me, and he would actually deprive himself of necessities if he had to receive them at my hands.”