"I should think we have had enough of the sound of beating drums, 'Bitha," replied Mary, speaking so sharply as to arouse her father-in-law into looking toward her.
Here John Devereux, just returned from the town, came in and announced the withdrawal of the British soldiers from the town and Neck.
"When will they go?" his wife asked eagerly.
"A shipload of them has already sailed,—it left the harbor before sunset; and some of the dragoons are about starting. It did my heart good to see the red-backs taking the road to Salem. We are well quit of them; and when they are gone we can easily manage all the ships they send into the harbor to annoy us or spy upon us."
He laughed with a mingling of indignation and contempt; but his manner changed quickly as he glanced toward his sister.
"Dot!" he cried, "what is it, child?" And he sprang to her.
She had turned about when he came into the room, and was now lying back against the spinet, her head on the music-rack,—lying there speechless, motionless; for the girl—and for the first time in her life—had fainted.
CHAPTER XXIV
An hour later, when left in her own room with Mary, Dorothy poured out her secret sorrow.