“If thee will, Robert,” answered she with a smile.
“Thee is routed, Robert,” cried Sally saucily as he left them.
CHAPTER III—AN OLD TIME ADVERTISEMENT
| “Now goes the nightly thief prowling abroad For plunder; much solicitous how best He may compensate for a day of sloth, By works of darkness and nocturnal wrong.” —“The Task,” Cowper. |
It was Thursday morning, and Mrs. Owen and Peggy had been very busy bringing the house and grounds into something like order. Now, however, both mother and daughter were surveying ruefully a pile of garments that constituted the remains of their depleted wardrobes. Presently the lady laid down a gray gown of tabby silk with a sigh.
“There is no help for it, my daughter. Thee must have a new frock. I see not how thou art to go to General Arnold’s tea otherwise.”
“Oh!” breathed Peggy a look of pleasure irradiating her face. Then as a thought came to her: “But are not goods very high, mother? How can we afford it?”
“We must, my child. Thou hast had no new frocks since Lexington, and ’tis quite time for others.”
“But neither hast thou, mother. Does thee not remember that we covenanted together that whatever we had to spend on clothes should be given for garments for the soldiers? Now if I have a new gown, thee must also.”
“We will see, Peggy. But a gown thee must have. We will go to the mercer’s to-day; but stay! Did not Sally speak of coming for thee to go to see a tree of some sort? That will delay us for another day.”