As she closed the gate and turned in the direction of the hospital she saw an officer coming down the street. There was something strangely familiar in his appearance, and Peggy was so impressed with the idea that it was some one she had met that she regarded him keenly. She stopped as though she had received a shock as she recognized him. For the man was Major-General Benedict Arnold, and he was coming directly toward her.
CHAPTER XVII—AN UNWELCOME ENCOUNTER
| “He stood alone—A renegade Against the Country he betrayed.” |
Peggy leaned against the fence for support, trembling violently. General Arnold was evidently bound for the palace, and she must pass him if she continued on her way to the hospital. The thought of running back to the house, and waiting until he had passed came to her, but she found herself incapable of moving. Peggy was obliged to resign herself to the encounter.
The scarlet and gold of the British uniform well became him, Peggy could not but observe. His dark, handsome face looked impassively from under his laced, cocked hat, and with quickening heart-throbs she saw that he still limped. Wildly she hoped that he would pass by without noticing her, and she watched his approach with a sort of fascination.
The birds sang merrily above her head, flitting from tree to tree across the blue of the sky. From the topmost bough of a near-by mulberry tree an oriole poured forth a flood of melody. A fresh river breeze bearing on its wings the odors of the sea stirred the maiden’s hair and touched her flushed cheeks with refreshing coolness.
Alas! as he came directly in front of her he raised his eyes, and then stopped abruptly with an exclamation of surprise and wonder.
“Why! it is Miss Peggy Owen, is it not?” he asked with a genial smile.
“Yes,” answered she faintly. “It is, Fr——” then she stopped. The word friend stuck in her throat. She could not utter it. Friend? Nay, he was not that. He had forfeited the title forever. And so, after a brief hesitation, she continued: “It is I, in truth, General Arnold.”
A flush had come into his swarthy face as she substituted the title “general” for friend. He bent his dark compelling eye upon her with wistful eagerness.