"To my mind, yes, sir."
His grave face lighted with a sudden smile.
"I sometimes imagine, Colonel Hamilton," he said quietly, "that this unhappy war might be very pleasantly concluded if we could only turn our young officers over to the ladies of the enemy. Would such a plan meet with your approval, Major?"
"I should prefer it to the present method."
"No doubt, and Mistress Mortimer?—But let that pass, until we hold council of war upon the subject. Just now we shall have to be content with the more ordinary plans of campaign. I gave the boy permission to remove his father, and they are upon the road ere this. I would that all the British wounded had homes close at hand. You have informed the Major of his mission, I presume, Hamilton, and there is nothing I need add."
"He understands clearly, sir."
"Then I will complete the letter. Be seated, gentlemen."
He wrote for several minutes steadily, once pausing to consult a map, signed the paper, and enclosed it in another sheet, across which he scratched a line of address.
"You will deliver this to General Arnold in person, Major; do not spare horse-flesh. You were in the action to-day?"
"With Maxwell's Brigade."