“Sir,” spoke General Washington gravely, “do you not see that there are ladies present? Let them pass, I beg of you. Such things are not of a nature for gentle ears to hear.”
As he spoke the eyes of the prisoner rested upon the maidens. He gave a short cry as he saw them, and sprang forward.
“If I did have a note, Your Excellency,” he cried, “there stands the girl who gave it to me.”
“Where?” asked the general sternly.
“There!” said the man pointing to Peggy. “That girl gave me the letter Tuesday afternoon.”
CHAPTER XX—A REGRETTED PROMISE
| “Not for counsel are we met, But to secure our arms from treachery, O’erthrow and stifle base conspiracies, Involve in his own toils our false ally——” —“Count Julian,” Walter Savage Landor. |
For one long moment there was a silence so tense that the breathing of those present was plainly audible. Peggy had become very pale, but she met the searching glance which General Washington bent upon her steadily.
“Did you ever give him a note, letter, or communication of any kind?” he asked at length.
“Yes,” she answered. “I gave him a letter to send through the lines a few days since. It was Third Day afternoon, as he hath said.”