“Thee need not run such risk. Thee shall have my own little Star,” cried Peggy thrillingly. “We can go now to the room under the stairs, and while the troopers are at dinner, slip through the window and down to the grove where she lies hidden. Come, friend.”
CHAPTER XXIII—A QUESTION OF COURAGE
| “What makes a hero?—An heroic mind, Express’d in action, in endurance prov’d.” —Sir Henry Taylor. |
As they reached the door of the room under the stairs, however, their hostess came into the hall. A frown contracted her brow at sight of Fairfax.
“This is folly,” she exclaimed. “Boy, don’t you know that Tarleton’s troopers are outside?”
“Yes; and they plan to go to Charlottesville after dinner to capture the Assembly,” Peggy told her before the youth could reply. “Friend Fairfax is to slip away to warn them.”
“Come in here,” she said drawing them into the dining-room. “Now,” speaking rapidly as she closed the door, “what is the plan? I may be able to help.”
“We are going through the window of thy room to the grove where my horse is while thee gives them dinner,” explained the maiden.
“Why, child, that won’t do at all. They will leave a guard outside, of course. You could not pass them. Let me think.”
For a brief second she meditated while the boy and the girl waited hopefully.