“And what is it all about, my child?” inquired the governor as Harriet disappeared down the lane.
“She spoke the truth, sir,” said Peggy, trying to recover from the intense amazement into which Harriet’s conduct had thrown her. “Here is a letter—nay, my cousin must have kept it,” she ended after a hasty search.
“She wished to show it to General Maxwell, I make no doubt,” he said. “Canst remember the contents?”
“I think so, sir,” answered Peggy, who was herself again. The thing to do was to explain the warning to the governor. The affair with Harriet could be adjusted afterward. “It said that an attempt would be made to surprise the brigade at Elizabethtown on the twenty-fourth, sir, which is to-night. Also that an effort would be made to captivate the old rebel at L—— H——, which must have meant thee, sir.”
“Doubtless! Doubtless!” he agreed. “I learned to-day that there was a large reward offered for me, dead or alive.”
“Why, it spoke of the reward,” cried she. “Thee won’t stay here, will thee?”
“Oh, as to that——” he began, when his wife and two daughters appeared in the doorway.
“What is it, William?” asked gentle Mrs. Livingston.
“The British plan to attempt my capture to-night,” he explained grimly. “Zounds! do they think to find me in bed, as they did Charles Lee?”
“Oh, father,” cried one of the girls fearfully, “you must leave at once for a place of safety.”