He drew a quick breath; and she readily divined the thoughts that caused him to frown, and bite his lips.
"General Washington said you would meet my brother at Cambridge, and that it was best to—best for—that it was important for you to see him," she added stammeringly, while her color deepened.
The scowl left his face, and he smiled at her in a way to make her eyes seek the floor.
"Aha! did he, indeed? Well then, no doubt it is best that I am going to Cambridge, and as soon as may be. But," with some anxiety, "what think you this brother of yours will say to me, or will a bullet be all he will have for my hearing?"
"No, indeed no!" Dorothy exclaimed. "Jack would never show you unkindness, for he knows—he well knows, because I told him—"
"Do you mean to say," he asked quickly, cutting short her words, "that your brother has known all this time the blessed truth that I learned only this very morning?"
"He only knew of it just before he left home in the summer," she whispered. "I had to tell him."
"Why?"
"I was afraid you and he might meet, and I was fearful that—" The voice died away, and Dorothy's head drooped.
"Sweetheart," he said softly, "I understand. You must have been sadly torn betwixt your love and what you thought to be your duty. It makes me realize more keenly what a brute I have made of myself. But trust me—only trust and believe in my honor and true love, and I will try all my life to make amends for the suffering I have caused you."