All Dolly’s admiration for him vanished on the day she suspected he was a Royalist. He had never avowed it, but the girl detected a look in his eyes when she spoke of Lexington that brought her to her feet in great excitement.
“I believe you’re a Royalist!� she exclaimed, with flashing eyes. “If not, why are you tarrying here when the need is so sore? I think a man who tarries unconcerned is a coward!�
“Dolly!� remonstrated Elizabeth.
“I do,� answered Dolly angrily. “And I hate cowards! You can excuse me if you will, Betty, but I would say it all over again to the king’s face!� and she ran out of the room.
The young man looked a little disturbed.
“I pray you overlook the child’s quick tongue,� Elizabeth said. “She is an eager little rebel, and loses control of herself.�
“Oh, I am not troubled by a child’s idle talk,� he said. “I admire her spirit. Yet I feel I scarce deserve the lash of her words.�
“I judge no man who follows his conscience. God will direct the right,� said Elizabeth gently.
With that he had to be content. Yet as he walked down the road he switched impatiently at the daisies beside it, and felt ill-satisfied with the part he was playing. To live among these people solely to discover their preparations for war revolted him, and he did so only at the positive order of his general.
But as days went on, he began to despair. No slightest clue could he get of the whereabouts of the stores he knew were being collected. Then one day, as he was about to return to Boston, a scrap of paper was slipped into his hand by a boy, who immediately scampered away. Captain Robbins was standing with a group of men at the tavern waiting for the mail-coach, and he carelessly untwisted and read the note: