“Arnold, the traitor?” exclaimed Nurse Johnson.
“The very same. I knew him in Philadelphia when he was our general. I liked not to talk with him, but he would not let me pass. Friend nurse, does thee think the British will stay here long?”
“’Tis hard to tell, Peggy. I blame you not for not wanting to meet with him, but ’tis a thing that will be unavoidable in this small town if they stay any length of time. I think he must be with General Phillips at the palace. I wish,” ended the good woman with the feeling that all Americans held toward the traitor, “I wish that we might do something to capture him. ’Tis said that His Excellency is most anxious to effect it.”
“Yes; but naught can be done with an army back of him. But something worries thee, and I have done naught but speak of my own anxiety. What is it?”
“’Tis Fairfax,” Nurse Johnson told her in troubled tones. “He is hiding in the forest, and wishes to come home for the night. I had a note from him. He tried to creep in to-day, but was deterred by seeing the guard in the yard. Of course, I knew that the militia must have fled to the forest, and the poor fellows are in want of food because the British have ravaged all the plantations near. If the boy could get in without the knowledge of the guard he could stay in the garret until the soldiers leave. But how to accomplish it I know not. He will be in the palace grounds to-night a little after sunset, he said. And he wished me to meet him there. But I promised the guard that I would cook them Indian cakes to-night, and so I cannot leave without arousing their suspicion. ’Tis time to go now, and to serve the cakes also. What to do I know not.”
“Why could I not go to thy son, while thee stays and cooks the cakes?” asked Peggy eagerly.
“Why, child, that might do! I did not think of that; yet I like not to send you out again so late.”
“It is not late. The dark hath come only in the shadow, which will be the better. And where will he be, friend nurse? The grounds are so large that I might go astray if I did not know the exact spot.”
“He will be in the great grove of lindens which lies on the far side of the grounds,” the nurse told her. “Yet I like not——”
“Say no more, friend nurse,” said Peggy quickly. “’Tis settled that I am to go. Now tell me just what thee wishes me to do.”