“But what shall we do with our little lord of the manor, Cousin Ned?� asked Dolly.
“The safest plan is to take him with us,� he replied.
“Oh, no, sir; no,� pleaded the little boy. “We sail to-day with Sir Guy Carleton, and what will grandfather do without me?� And then he told them how, early that morning, he had slipped away from Angevine, Colonel Phillipse’s body-servant, passed through the barriers and strolled up the Bowery lane to see the “rebel soldiers�; how he had lost his way in the crowd, and was in sore distress and danger until Dolly interfered; and how he thanked them “over and over again� for protecting him. But “Oh, please, I must go back to my grandfather,� he added.
Little Mistress Dolly had a mind of her own, and she warmly championed the cause of the “lost little lord,� as she called him.
“Cousin Ned,� she said, “of course he must go to his grandfather, and of course we must take him. Think how I should feel if they tried to keep me from my father!� and Dolly’s sympathetic eyes filled at the dreadful thought.
“But how can we take him?� asked Cousin Ned. “How can we get past the barriers?�
A hundred years ago New York City proper extended northward only as far as the present post-office, and during the Revolution a line of earthworks was thrown across the island at that point to defend it against assault from the north. The British sentinels at these barriers were not to give up their posts to the Americans until one o’clock on this eventful Evacuation Day, and Cousin Ned, therefore, could not well see how they could pass the sentries.
But young Master Clinton, a bright, curly-haired boy of thirteen, said confidently: “Oh, that’s easily done.� And then, with a knowledge of the highways and byways which many rambles through the dear old town had given him, he unfolded his plan. “See here,� he said; “we’ll turn down the Monument lane, just below us, cut across through General Mortier’s woods to Mr. Nicholas Bayard’s, and so on to the Ranelagh Gardens. From there we can easily get over to the Broad Way and the Murray Street barrier before General Knox gets to the Fresh Water, where he has been ordered to halt until one o’clock. When the guard at the barrier knows that we have the little Baron of Phillipsbourg with us, and has handled the two York sixpences you will give him, of course he’ll let us pass. So, don’t you see, we can fix this little boy all right, and, better yet, can see King George’s men go out and our troops come in, and make just a splendid day of it.�
Dolly, fully alive to these glorious possibilities, clapped her hands delightedly.
“What a brain the boy has!� said young Livingston. “Keep on, my son,� he said patronizingly, “and you’ll make a great man yet.�