"Do you mean to say you think they were wrong, uncle?"
"I assure you," said he, "if I had been in the English army, I would have fought them with all my heart."
"And if I had been in the American army, I would have fought you with all my heart, Uncle Lindsay."
"Come, come," said he laughing; "you fight! you don't look as if you would do battle with a good-sized mosquito."
"Ah, but I mean, if I had been a man," said Ellen.
"You had better put in that qualification. After all, I am inclined to think it may be as well for you on the whole that we did not meet. I don't know but we might have had a pretty stiff encounter, though."
"A good cause is stronger than a bad one, uncle."
"But, Ellen, these Americans forfeited entirely the character of good friends to England and good subjects to King George."
"Yes, but it was King George's fault, uncle; he and the
English forfeited their characters first."
"I declare," said Mr. Lindsay, laughing. "if your sword had been as stout as your tongue, I don't know how I might have come off in that same encounter."