“Nay, you both look sweet and innocent enough; but somehow I’m always giving that Bible verse a twist and reading it: ‘Where two or three Tories are gathered together, there is the devil in their midst.’”
“You should not twist your Scripture, Mistress Strudwick.”
“Mayhap not, but sometimes it makes an uncommon good hit.”
“Well, you were wrong to-day. Two Loyalists have been congregated together; but Cupid, rather than the devil, has been our co-conspirator.”
“So! It was sweethearts you were discussing? Tell me now, was it your match or Mary’s you were arranging? There is nothing pleases me more than a wedding.”
“I thought you took no interest in matters concerning King George’s subjects.”
“King George has naught to do with the wooing of our maids; and love is love, whether it be Redcoat or Continental,” replied the old matchmaker.
Joscelyn laughed. “I verily believe you’d like to know the courtship of Satan himself, provided he had one.”
“Of course he had, my dear, and a most engaging lover he made, I’ll be bound, seeing he is so apt a beguiler in other things. Oh, yes, everybody knows that Satan is a married man.”